Kidnapped
by The Mangosity
Summary: Riku followed Sora, not knowing that this was an imposter. He couldn’t have known that the real Sora had been bound and gagged and stuffed in a cave sealed by a rock on the northern side of the island.
1. Hidden

Hi! I'd just like to address the fact that I do know that I have two unfinished stories that are definitely due for an update. If you're one of the people that are reading one of those stories, I'm _very_ sorry. I'm only publishing this story to get a little freedom from those stories. I'm trying to show them that they are _not_ controlling my life and limiting how many stories I put up! Anyway, for those of you that are here to read this story, I'll stop talking now. Enjoy!

* * *

Kidnapped

The sun shone across the sea, causing diamonds to dance within the waves. A small wind blew by and the palm trees swayed in its breeze. There were clouds in the sky, but they were puffy and full, not at all foreboding. The crocked tree full of star shaped fruit lay still, its strong trunk not affected by the draft that was slowly picking up around the island. On top of the paupu tree lay a young boy fully dressed in black, his leg dangling over the side of the tree and his head poised to look out over the horizon. This boy was Sora, the Key Blade master.

"It's great to get to the island early," he thought. "It's nice to just have some time alone." Ever since returning to the island from his great journey, Sora had been doing this more and more often. He _had_ done it before leaving the island because he really did like having the whole island to himself, but lately he'd been doing it much more. It had been three weeks since his return, and he was just trying to take all of it in.

He'd actually left the island, and now that he was back it felt like everything he'd done had just been a dream. He kept expecting to just wake up one day and be back in his room that one night before he, Riku, and Kairi were about to sail away on their raft.

"It wasn't a dream though," Sora whispered to himself. As if he was trying to convince himself that it wasn't, he stuck his hand out and the Key Blade appeared in his grasp, just like it always did. He dismissed it and let his hand fall back down to dangle next to the paupus. He sat in silence, just staring out at the horizon. It was quiet with no one on the island. Since it was about 8:15 on a Saturday, it was going to be about another half hour until anyone really started showing up. Sora was going to have a lot of time to himself.

He wasn't going to do anything though. He was probably going to stay right there on the paupu tree, and was probably going to fall asleep until one of his friends came and woke him up.

"No," Sora thought, "I don't think I want to go to sleep. I'll just rest my eyes for a…"

"Hey Sora." A voice from behind startled Sora so much that he almost fell off of the paupu tree. He turned around and saw Riku standing at the midway point of the bridge that led form the Seaside Shack to the island that the paupu tree sat on. "What are you doing?"

"Um…I was just thinking a little," Sora replied, wondering how Riku could have possibly made it all the way there without him noticing. He looked towards the docks and saw that his boat was the only one there. "Riku, where's your boat?" he asked, jumping down from the tree.

"I…" Riku paused. "I wanted to try something new, so I parked it in the back."

"Oh," Sora said. Although the way Riku had stopped in the middle of his sentence had made it sound like he was lying, Sora just passed it off as Riku having one of his wistful days. "So why are _you_ here so early?"

"I knew you were here and I wanted to show you something in the Secret Place."

"What do you want to show me?" By this time Sora had walked up to Riku, and so Riku reached out to grab Sora's wrist. He started leading him forward.

"Just let me show it to you," he said. "It's hard to describe."

"All right." Sora started walking next to Riku as Riku let go of his wrist. They made their way over to the Secret Place in relative silence. Sora once asked Riku about where he'd docked his boat, and Riku had answered that he'd dragged it onto the sand, but other than that they didn't speak.

"He's acting kind of weird," Sora thought. Riku had paused a lot when he'd been telling the story about were he put his boat, just like when he'd told Sora what side of the island he'd put it on. To Sora, it sounded like Riku was lying, but what reason would Riku have to lie to him? "He must really be thinking," Sora thought. "His mind just isn't on what he's saying."

They emerged from the mouth of the cave that led to the Secret Place. Sora stayed at the head of the cave, crossing his arms, while Riku continued walking to the back.

"Okay, so what is it you wanted to show me?" Sora asked, his voice sounding slightly annoyed. Riku had completely left him in the dark about what it was he wanted to show him, and it was time he fessed up to what it was.

"Just wait. You'll know what it is in a few seconds," Riku assured Sora. Sora waited, and what had to be five seconds passed before he spoke again.

"Riku, I don't think what you want to happen is _going_ to happen."

"Don't worry." Riku's voice suddenly took on an ominous tone. "You're about to figure out what I wanted to show you." No sooner had Riku finished his sentence than Sora was being shoved to the ground from behind. Sora tried to get up again, but a firm hand was pressed against his back, keeping him from standing.

"Hey…what…" Sora grunted, trying to turn his head around to face his attacker.

"Stay down." The deep, smooth voice of a man flowed into Sora's ear. When Sora wouldn't stop trying to sit up though, the hand left, and Sora thought he would finally be allowed to stand. He wasn't permitted that liberty though, as what felt like a large boot jabbed into his back. Sora's arms were wrenched behind him and he felt the roughness of rope as his wrists were being tied together.

He struggled harder now, kicking his legs and twisting his wrists to try and shake off this person. The person barely noticed though, because once he was done with Sora's wrists he went strait on to Sora's legs. Whoever this was was definitely stronger than Sora, as no matter how much he tried to he couldn't budge the cord that bound his wrists.

Sora cast Riku pleading glances, but Riku didn't move. He just stared down at him and didn't do anything that made it seem like he was going to help Sora out in any way.

"Why isn't he doing anything?" Sora thought fiercely. He kicked and thrashed his legs about, but that didn't keep the man from tying the thick rope around his ankles.

Once the man was finished restraining Sora, he stood, leaving Sora to struggle vainly against his bonds.

"_Riku_," Sora cried after finding that it was useless to try and break free. "_Help_ me." Riku didn't though. He simply crossed his arms and gave a wicked smile.

"No," he said, "I'm not going to."

"But…Riku…" Sora was at a loss for words. "Why?"

"Because he's not what you think he is." This was the man's voice. He'd come around to Sora's front to stand next to Riku, and now Sora could see that he was a tall, dark haired man dressed in a navy blue jacket and blue jeans. The man continued, "He's just a spawn of magic."

"Yes," Riku said. "Haven't you ever heard of a replication spell?" With that, the man reached out and clutched Riku by the shoulder. He said a word Sora didn't understand and then Riku disappeared. In his place were a few strands of falling silver hair.

"It's amazing what magic can do," the man remarked, brushing pasts the hairs. "I just need a few strands of a person's hair, and I can make a whole nother one of them."

"You mean Riku…"

"Yes," the man interrupted Sora. "The one you've been talking to this whole time has been a fake." It took a few seconds for this to process in Sora's mind.

"No," Sora thought. "This can't be…" He cut his thoughts short though, as the man took a step towards him. Sora went on the defensive, and in a flash of light the Key Blade appeared in his hand. The man cringed back. Sora proceeded to try and slip the sharp end of the key Blade between the ropes that bound his wrists, but the man's hand shot out to stop the Key Blade with such speed that Sora had never seen before. Sora gave a small gasp, but quickly regained himself.

"Let go," he growled. The man started tugging at the Key Blade, trying to pull it from Sora's grasp, but Sora held tight, not daring to let his grip falter. No matter how much he tried to hold onto it though, the man proved stronger than him again, and Sora slowly felt the hilt of the Key Blade start to slip through his fingers. Finally, Sora was forced to let go of the Key Blade, his fingers too tired to hold on any longer.

Now that the man had the Key Blade, he faced Sora and held his hand out in front of him, his fingers spread out. He once again said a word Sora didn't understand, and a sizzling pain suddenly shot up Sora's arm. He winced and started pulling at his arm, trying to pull it from the ropes and alleviate some of the pain, but his bonds held tight. After a few seconds the pain died away and he gasped.

"What did you do?" he panted, trying to catch his breath. The man ignored his question.

"This is interesting," he said, inspecting the Key Blade. He looked up to face Sora. "You wield the Key Blade. You're the Key Blade Master." A smile unfurled on the man's face, a smile Sora really didn't like. "You just saved me the trouble of tracking you down." As the man continued to eye the Key Blade, Sora tried to call it back to his hand. He was alarmed by the fact that it wouldn't come.

"What did you _do_?" he asked again, his voice fierce.

The man finally answered Sora's question, saying, "I took the Key Blade from you. It's wasted in your possession."

"What? But how?"

"A spell of course," the man said as if it were obvious. "It's the only way to get things done." As Sora tried again and again to call the Key Blade back, he realized the seriousness of the situation he was in. He was laying on the floor of the Secret Place, his arms and legs bound together, a man he didn't know was standing over him with the Key Blade in his hand, and he was alone, on account of the fact that his friend had never really been there. Riku had only been a clone made from a tuft of his hair. That's when a thought occurred to Sora.

"How did you get his hair?" Sora called, tearing the man's attention away from the Key Blade.

"What?" the man said as if Sora had just interrupted a conversation of his.

"_How_ did you get a tuft of his hair?"

"Wouldn't you like to know?" the man smirked. "Let's just say we had a confrontation."

"What? You didn't hurt him did you?" Sora cried, suddenly giving a small try at pulling his arms free.

"No, at least not yet." At this Sora settled down a bit. "Speaking of Riku, I need something to keep him busy for a while." The man dropped the Key Blade to the side and stooped down, his hand outstretched to the top of Sora's head.

"Hey, what're you…_ow_." Sora felt a prick of pain as a few of his hairs were plucked.

"That's more than enough," the man said, eyeing the strands of brown hair in his hand. He stood.

"Enough for what?"

"Have you even been paying attention this whole time?" The man held his hand out in front of him and cast another one of his spells that Sora had never heard of. There was a flash of light so bright that Sora had to close his eyes to keep them from stinging. When he opened them again, he was staring at himself. He gave a slight gasp as his doppelganger turned around to face the man.

"Sora," the man said, referring to the Sora he'd just made. "I need you to get Riku onto the island. Keep him occupied for a while." He turned to the Sora that lay on the floor. "We need to hide this one though. Riku can't find him if you're around."

"So where do you want to put him?"

The man smirked.

"I know the perfect place." He reached down and hauled Sora up off of the ground.

"Let go of me," Sora cried, trying to tug his shoulders from the man's grasp.

"Not a chance," the man said, hooking his arms underneath Sora's. He looked at the other Sora. "Here. Help me with his legs."

"Sure." The clone Sora stepped forward and scooped the real Sora's legs up, and together he and the man started to carry a wriggling Sora out of the Secret Place.

"Let me _go_," Sora repeated, trying to kick his legs free, but the arms wrapped around his knees paired with the rope binding his ankles prevented him from escaping. He tried as hard as he could to try and shake off his attackers, but to no avail. There was nothing he could do. He was trapped.

Sora did the only thing he could do, and screamed one word at the top of his lungs: Help. No one was on the island to hear him though, and as he was dropped to the ground and a black cloth was slipped over his mouth, this fact was very apparent to Sora.

The only one that probably could have helped him was fast asleep in his bed at the moment, his silver hair a tangled mess against the pillow.

It was 8:29 by now, and it was almost time for Riku to get up. As soon as the clock's 29 changed to a 30, a resounding buzzing noise rang around the room. Riku opened his eyes and slammed his hand down onto the button that stopped his alarm clock. He sat up, stretched his arms in the air, and sighed. He was going to meet Sora on the island at 9:00, so he swung his legs over the side of the bed and walked over to his bureau. He gave a small laugh as he rummaged around for something decent to put on.

"Sora's probably been waiting for me since five o'clock in the morning," he thought, remembering how much Sora enjoyed going to the island before everyone else. "He just can't wait for anyone." Riku finally pulled a gray shirt and gray pants out from the drawer, and so went on to change out of his pajamas. After Riku got finished with his normal morning activities, like brushing his teeth, he waved his mother goodbye through the door that led into the kitchen and left the house.

He wanted to get some orange juice or some apple juice before heading over to where Sora was, so he started heading over to his favorite shop. After he'd crossed the street and turned the corner, he was surprised to see Sora coming down the street towards him. When Sora saw Riku, his face lit up and he started running over to him.

"Hey Riku," Sora called once he was within earshot.

"Hi, Sora," Riku said, his voice a little confused. "What are you doing here? I thought you were on the island."

"I was, but I got bored so I came to find you."

"Oh, okay," Riku said. "I _was_ just about to head over to the island, you know."

"You were?" Sora grinned. "I guess I could've stayed there then, huh?"

"Yeah." Riku looked down at his watch, verifying that he still had enough time to go get something to drink. "Sora, I'd planned on going to get some juice from the little store on Crestwood before heading over. Do you want to come?"

"No, I think I'll just wait for you by the docks."

"Alright, see you later then."

"Are you sure you don't want to just skip the juice and come strait to the island?" Sora asked, his voice sounding slightly insistent.

"Um…No, I think I'll go get the juice first. I'm thirsty"

"Oh." Sora's voice was rather flat. The bounce came back to his voice though, when he said, "Okay. Bye." Sora started walking in the direction of the docks, and Riku crossed the street so he'd be able to go to the store he wanted to go to.

"That was strange," Riku thought. "Sora's acting kind of weird today."

Riku had no idea.

* * *

When Riku got close enough to the docks, he saw that Sora was sitting cross-legged on the wooden part next to his boat.

"Hey, Sora," Riku cried. "Over here." Sora turned around, stood, and gave a small wave.

Once Riku made it over to him, Sora asked, "Are you ready?"

"Yeah," Riku replied. He gave one of his various pants pockets a pat. "I didn't finish all of my orange juice. Do you want the rest?" Sora shook his head.

"I just want to get to the island," he said. The insistence was back.

"Okay, let's go then." Sora proceeded to get into his boat while Riku went to go find his. He had no idea that by going with Sora to the islands, he was walking right into a trap.

* * *

Riku climbed up onto the wooden dock and sighed. He was tired from the trip over, and needed a few seconds to catch his breath. He felt Sora come up next to him.

"So, why did you want to come here so badly?" he asked Sora.

"Who says I wanted to come here really badly?" Sora asked. Riku smirked.

"_You _did. The way you've been asking me to come made it seem like you really wanted to be here." Sora didn't say anything, so Riku took the opportunity to talk to Sora about something that had been nagging him since he'd met up with Sora at the start of the morning. "Sora, you seem a little off today."

"What do you mean?" Sora sounded extremely defensive when he said this.

"Hey, I'm just saying, you just…" Riku paused to try and find the words. "You just don't seem like Sora today." Sora narrowed his eyes at Riku, giving him the fiercest glare Riku had ever seen coming from Sora. "Sora, what…" Sora briskly turned around and started walking away. "Wait, Sora, what did I do?" Riku cried after him. He could tell Sora was mad at him, but he really didn't know why. Sora had just all of a sudden stormed off in a huff.

Riku followed Sora, not knowing that this was an imposter. He couldn't have known that the real Sora had been bound and gagged and stuffed in a cave sealed by a rock on the northern side of the island.

"Sora," Riku said, finally having caught up with his friend. "Sora, what's wrong with you? You really have been acting strange…" Riku was going to say more, but stopped. He'd just then gotten a whiff of something he'd hopped he'd never have to smell again. It was darkness, but it wasn't just any darkness. It smelled like magic that had been tainted by darkness. There was a difference between darkness and tainted magic, and Riku knew this difference very well.

"Sora," he said, his voice clear and unwavering. "What were you doing here before you came and got me?" Sora stopped ahead of him, but didn't answer. "_Sora_," Riku raised his voice and reached out to grab Sora's arm. He spun Sora around so that he was facing him and started, "What were you…" Riku gasped. Now it was his turn to glare. "You're not Sora." Riku knew it had to be true. Whoever this was smelled too much like magic from the dark to be Sora.

Sora raised an eyebrow, obviously surprised at Riku's comment, and after a few seconds he smiled. It was a smile Riku knew couldn't possibly have meant anything good though.

"You figured that out sooner than I thought you would," Sora said, confirming what Riku had said to him. Riku's grip tightened around Sora's arm.

"Where is he?" Riku shouted. "What did you do to Sora?"

"He's hidden," Sora replied calmly. "You can't find him until you give the one that made me what he wants."

"And what does the one that made you want?" Riku growled, his anger rising by the second.

"Way To Dawn," Sora said, jerking his arm from Riku's grasp. "IF you give him Way To Dawn, he'll let Sora go."

"Who made you?" Riku shouted. "Who wants Way To Dawn?"

"You'll have to find out yourself," Sora smirked, his voice the essence of cruelty. Riku couldn't take it anymore. He grabbed Sora by both of his shoulders and rammed his back against a nearby palm tree. The smile was immediately erased from Sora's face.

"Just because you look like Sora," Riku growled. "Don't think I won't hurt you. Tell me where he is, or else."

"Or else what?"

Riku summoned Way To Dawn and poised it at Sora's neck.

"Or else _this_. Now tell me where he is or you'll wish you had." Sora looked down at Riku's weapon with an almost bored expression on his face.

"If I were you, I wouldn't be wasting my time like this, not if my best friend's life was on the line."

"It wouldn't be if you would just tell me where he is," Riku cried, slamming his fist against the side of the palm tree. Sora remained silent. "Fine then. If you're not going to tell me where he is, at least tell me this. Is the one that made you named Twine?" The smile came back to Sora's face.

"How'd you know?"

Riku's hold on Way To Dawn seemed to lessen, but it was only for a second. He looked at the Sora in front of him, the rage he felt apparent in his eyes. He tried, one last time, to get the phony Sora to tell him where the real Sora was.

"Where. Is. He?"

"No," Sora said. "You don't get to see Sora until you hand over Way To Dawn."

"You're really no help at all," Riku shouted, shoving Sora to the sand. He started running towards the Secret Place. He'd gathered, from the way the other Sora had spoken, that Sora was hidden somewhere on the island, and the Secret Place was the perfect place to hide.

"Sora," Riku cried, bursting into the Secret Place. "Sora are you here?" Riku's voice echoed around the small cave, but there wasn't any answer. Riku was about to leave the cave and look for Sora somewhere else when something on the cave floor caught his eye. The sand near the middle of the cave was thrown askew, a chaotic mess of lumps, and Riku wondered why this was. The Secret Place was usually peaceful, not many people daring to find out what lay in its mysterious depths. That's when he saw it: the unmistakable footprint that only Sora could leave.

Riku balled his hand into a fist, the only emotion he felt being anger. Sora had been here, and Riku was sure of it. His clothing was the most unique thing on Destiny Islands. They were one of a kind. The fact that Sora's footprint was here and there were signs of a struggle written all over the small cave, paired with what he'd just learned in the past few minutes, made Riku know what had happened to Sora.

He'd been kidnapped, taken hostage in a plot to get Riku to hand over Way To Dawn. Riku tore out running towards the outside.

"He's not going to get away with this," Riku thought. "I'll die before I let Twine get away with this."

**To Be Continued…**

This story is one of those stories I'm going to work on constantly, so those of you that are experiencing, "Why Don't They Update Syndrome," don't worry! This story will have, at the most, four chapters. I don't want anything epic, justu something to tide over the masses while I get my other two stories back on track. This is The Mangostiy saying, All Hail The Nintendo64!


	2. A Bargain Made

**Disclaimer: I do not own Kingdom Hearts. **

* * *

Kidnapped

He was flooded with anger, spurred on by rage a she burst through the entrance to the Secret Place.

"This is bad," Riku thought. "This is _really_ bad. I have to find him now." Riku was suddenly struck with the feeling that finding Sora would be like finding a needle in a haystack. Sora could've been anywhere on the giant chain of islands they all lived on. "He might not even be on this world," Riku thought, putting a hand to his head. He needed to calm himself down. He was angry, but he knew he couldn't let that keep him from thinking clearly. "I've got to…"

All of a sudden, Riku was tackled to the ground from the side.

"You're not supposed to look for him, you know," came Sora's voice at his ear. "That's why it's called _holding_ for ransom."

"Get _off_," Riku cried, struggling to throw Twine's Sora off of him. Sora held tight though, grabbing a good clump of Riku's hair and pinning his left arm to the ground.

"No," Sora said. "You're staying here until you hand it over."

"Why does Twine want me to give him Way To Dawn anyway?" Riku growled under his breath.

"You don't need to know that," Sora snapped. "All you need to know is that Sora's going to die unless you do."

Surprise and realization lit up in Riku's face. He really hadn't considered the fact that Sora's life might be in danger. He'd known that something terrible was going to happen to Sora if he didn't give up Way To Dawn, but he'd never suspected that that thing might be death. Riku needed to find Sora now more than ever.

"Hey, 'Sora,'" he called. "Tell Twine to let Sora go first. Let me see that he's all right, and then I'll give it to him." Sora gave a small laugh.

"I wish I could believe that," he said, mockingly. "But I don't think you would have any motivation to give it to him once he let Sora go."

"No, I would," Riku said. "I swear I would."

"It doesn't matter how much you swear you would. Twine's only going to let Sora go once he gets Way To Dawn." Riku didn't answer. He didn't say anything for such a long time that Sora said, "You know, the longer you stay here, the less time you have to get him Way To Dawn."

"_What_?" Riku cried. "I have a time limit?"

"Did I forget to mention?" Sora asked, sounding completely unremorseful. "You've got about two hours before something happens to your friend." Now, Sora got closer to Riku's ear and said with a soft voice, "If he's killed, it'll be your fault." Riku couldn't take it anymore.

His free hand shot up to the fist clasped around his hair and pried the fingers away. The action was so fast that Sora didn't have time to try and stop it. Now that he could sit up without having his hair pulled out, Riku managed to get both of his hands onto the ground to shove himself up, though Sora still had a firm grip on his left arm.

"Hey, get back down," Sora ordered, moving himself into a more upright position to push Riku back down. "You'd better…" As Sora's stomach became exposed, Riku took this opportunity to draw his elbow forward and jab it backwards as hard as he could.

There came a gasping noise from Sora and he stopped moving. He gave a groan as he slumped forward into Riku's shoulder. Riku shrugged him off and set him down with his back against the sand before standing. He sighed. Things were a lot worse than he'd thought. Twine was actually going to _kill_ Sora if he didn't receive Way To Dawn.

Riku couldn't give him Way To Dawn though. He just couldn't. There were a couple of reasons why. Way To Dawn acted like the Key Blade in many ways. One of those ways was its ability to lock and unlock things, and Riku had a feeling that Twine must've had something he needed to unlock. If he did, it couldn't possibly have been anything good, so that was one reason why he couldn't give Twine Way To Dawn. Another reason was the fact that it was his weapon, his protection against the heartless. If Riku gave Twine Way To Dawn and the heartless found out, they probably would have come swarming.

Riku probably could have thought of three more reasons why he couldn't give his Key Blade over to Twine, but there was one reason why he _had_ to give it over that pushed all of the other reasons away, and that reason was Sora. Riku wouldn't have been able to live with himself if something happened to Sora because of all this.

"I have to get him away from Twine," Riku thought. "As long as he has Sora, I can't do anything." The needle in a haystack feeling came back, but he quickly quelled it and began to think. "Okay, if he _were_ on this island, where would he be?"

Riku thought of all of the places on the island anyone could possibly hide in, and after a few seconds he gasped. He felt like an idiot for not having thought of it before. It was the place where everyone had hidden whenever he'd played hide and seek as a small child. Riku didn't have any time to waste.

He rushed down to the Sora that lay in the sand next to him to make sure he really was unconscious and wasn't just pretending. When he found that he really was unconscious, Riku stood and started running towards the Cove as fast as he could.

"Don't worry Sora," he thought. "I'm coming."

* * *

It was dark in the small cave. The rock that hid it from view let in a few ribbons of light, but other than that it was pitch black to Sora. He lay on his stomach, fighting to break the rope that bound his wrists. He was starting to get tired though. He'd been stuck in the cave for what had to at least be an hour, rarely stopping to rest from pulling at the ropes. He needed to get away and make sure Riku was all right.

As they'd carried him over to the cave, Twine and the other Sora had talked about a plan that involved Riku. They were trying to get him to do something. Sora hadn't heard enough before being dropped into a dark portal and into the cave to know what that thing was, but he knew that Twine had taken him hostage to force Riku to do it. Sora gave three more tries at pulling his arms free, but to no avail. He stopped.

"I have to warn him," Sora thought, panting. "Riku is in _danger_." A feeling of hopelessness suddenly swept over Sora. "Who am I kidding? _I'm_ danger."

He'd tried everything to try and escape his prison. He'd tried slipping his hands through the cords, but that obviously hadn't gotten him anywhere. He'd tried kicking himself free too, but that hadn't worked either. He'd tried getting as close as he could to the cave wall and running his wrists across it in hopes that it would pull the ropes away. This hadn't worked because the walls were smooth and didn't have anything that would snag. He'd tried pushing the rock that blocked the cave out of the way, but that hadn't worked, not because he wasn't strong enough to do it. He'd been able to push that rock ever since he was thirteen years old. The reason he couldn't push it now was because in his present state, he couldn't get into the right position to even _begin_ pushing the rock. He hadn't even bothered trying to cry out. No one was on the island to hear him, and even if they had been there, with the cloth at his mouth in place his voice was muffled and muted. They wouldn't have been able to hear him over the waves.

Since he'd tried everything and nothing seemed to be working for him, Sora sat there in silence, not moving or doing anything. He'd come to the conclusion that the ropes were too tight. He wasn't' going to be able to break them.

"I guess I'm just going to have to trust Riku," he thought. "Or Kairi." Those two were the only ones that could've helped him. Twine was obviously from the dark by the way he could use dark portals, and this being the case meant that only objects with a certain amount of magical ability could be used against him. Riku and Kairi, being ones that wielded Key Blades, were the only ones on the world that had anything like that. Sora knew that it would be one of those two that saved him, and that it would most likely be Riku. Kairi had piano practice from nine o'clock to ten on Saturdays, so she wouldn't be able to come.

"You never know though," Sora thought. "I could be here for a while." Right now Riku and the replication Sora were probably off on the main island doing something together, Riku blissfully unaware that his friend was actually a "spawn of magic," as Twine had called it. They were most likely at an arcade. That's what Sora and Riku had planned to do until Kairi got out of her lessons. "For all I know it could already be ten," Sora thought, sighing. He had a watch on, but there wasn't anyway he could look at it with it being on his wrist and his wrists being behind him.

Now that he thought about the time, Sora wondered when it was going to be that anyone found him.

"If Riku thinks the replication is me, and they do whatever they're going to do until Kairi gets there, and then _Kairi_ thinks the replication is me, doesn't that mean that no one will come looking…" If Sora could have, he probably would have smacked his temples. He was extremely tired at the moment, his thoughts becoming a rambling mess. After taking a few deep breaths, Sora closed his eyes. He really was starting to wonder when he would be allowed to leave. It felt like hours had passed since he'd been put here, but he knew that wasn't true. It only felt that way to him because he'd been waiting.

Now Sora's mind started drifting away into sleep, his body so tired and fatigued that he could hardly help it. He probably would've fallen asleep right there if the startling sound of the wooden door at the head of the Cove banging open hadn't jerked him awake.

Sora listened as distant footsteps plocking against wood, and then sand, got closer and closer. He didn't know who this person was, but they were coming in his direction. Sora was holding his breath by the time the person got close to his cave. They couldn't have been more than five feet away. When the person stopped running, Sora gasped. This was his chance and he was missing it.

Sora rolled onto his back and started kicking his legs against the side wall of the cave, shuffling around, and making as much noise as he possibly could. He cried out as best he could with the cloth over his mouth and hopped, _prayed_ that the person would hear him, and set him free.

* * *

"The cave," Riku thought. "How could I be so stupid?" As Riku ran down the small bridge that ran across the Cove, he couldn't help but beat himself up for not going to the cave in the first place. There was a small cave near the place where he, Sora, and Kairi had built their raft, and Sora was just small enough to fit into it. Riku was positive that this must've been where Sora had been stowed away. "If I'd come here first, Sora would be safe right now." Riku didn't like the fact that he'd gone to the Secret Place when he'd first found out about Sora's kidnapping. He knew that if he'd thought things through then, he wouldn't have just gone to the first place that popped into his mind. "Oh well," he thought. "There's no point in feeling bad about it now."

He was coming up on the point in the land that dipped down. It was about a five-foot drop, and normally he would have slowed down to get passed this part, but he was in too much of a hurry to do that now. He jumped, landed, and then ran a few more steps before finally making it to the outside of the cave. It really couldn't be considered a cave, as it was more of a hole drilled into the side of the wall.

Whatever the thing was called, Riku noticed one thing about it, and that was that the position of the rock was over the mouth of the cave, but the sand around the rock was smooth and plain. If Twine had put Sora into the cave, he would've had to move the rock, and this would have unsettled the sand. "Maybe he's not in there," Riku thought, walking forward all the while. The next thing that happened changed his mind though.

He started hearing shuffling noises and small, stifled cries. It sounded just like Sora. Riku shot out towards the rock and kneeled down next to it, putting both hands on it to push it away from the cave's mouth.

"Viku?" came Sora's voice once Riku had the rock open a little. He went on to say a few more things, but Riku couldn't understand them, as a cloth had been draped over Sora's mouth.

"Sora," Riku breathed, the relief he felt evident in his voice. "Just hold on. Let me untie you first." Riku went to push the rock a little further away from the cave so that he could fit through and get Sora out, but he never got the chance. To his horror, a dark portal appeared underneath Sora, and with a cry Sora fell through.

"No, Sora," Riku cried, sticking his hand through the gap that the rock made to possibly catch hold of Sora, but it was too late. Even if he _had_ been able to fit through the gap, it still would've been too late. The dark portal left as quickly as it had come. Riku sat there, staring at the place where Sora had just been. He'd been less than a foot away from Sora, and _still_ he hadn't been able to save him.

"Lost something?" came a voice from behind. Riku clenched his fist. It was Twine. He stood up and spun around.

"Bring him back," Riku shouted. "This is between you and me Twine. Leave Sora out of it."

"But he's the Key Blade Master, isn't he?" Twine asked, a sly smile on his face. "I don't think there _is_ a way to leave him out."

This gained a surprised look from Riku. He hadn't expected Twine to know that Sora was the Key Blade Master. He hadn't _wanted_ Twine to know that Sora was the Key Blade Master. He'd known that Twine would definitely go after Sora if he knew this bit of information. Riku narrowed his eyes at Twine.

"How did you know that?" he asked.

"I _should_ know," Twine smirked. "I'm the one that took it away from him." Riku gasped. This situation was getting too out of control. He knew he had to stop it before it was too late.

"Let Sora _go_," Riku shouted, once again trying to gain Sora's freedom. "He is _not_ involved in this. It's me you want anyway."

"No," came Twine's brusque reply. "In fact I'm never letting him go, not after the stunt you just tried to pull. You might as well kiss your friend goodbye. He's as good as dead." (A/N: Don't get excited yaoi fans. The kiss comment was just an expression.)

"Don't you dare lay a _finger_ on him," Riku cried, summoning Way To Dawn.

"Is this your way of changing your mind about giving me Way To Dawn?" Twine asked, looking as if he didn't take Riku seriously at all.

"No, this is me threatening you," Riku cried, running at Twine with his Key Blade above his head. He went to come down on Twine with Way To Dawn, but in a flash of light he made contact with something hard. Twine had blocked his attack, and he had done it with the Key Blade. The two separated, jumping away from each other.

"How are you using the Key Blade?" Riku asked once he'd landed.

"I already told you I took it away from him," Twine said. "What did you think? I just took it for show?"

"No," Riku thought, gripping the hilt of Way To Dawn, "But I didn't expect you to be able to use it." He was already angry enough, what with Twine being on the verge of murdering his best friend, but the fact that Twine had the audacity to use the Key Blade _right_ at this moment made Riku all the angrier. Riku ran forward once more, wanting nothing more than to hurt Twine. Twine had other plans though. Before Riku knew it, Twine's fingers were coiled around his wrist and a sizzling pain was going up his arm.

Riku let out a scream at the pain, and then reached up to Twine's hand to move it away. Twine held on though, and the longer he did the more Riku felt his grip on Way To Dawn slip away, and it wasn't just physically. The connection he had with Way To Dawn was slipping away as well.

"This must be what he did to Sora," Riku thought. He had to do something before Way To Dawn was gone completely. That's when he thought of it. "**Reflect**," Riku shouted out. A shield of light burst out from Riku, bumping Twine away and causing him to let go of Riku's wrist.

Riku stumbled backwards and then fell to his knees, clutching his arm and dismissing Way To Dawn. He couldn't risk using it and having Twine try to take it away again.

"But what can I do?" Riku thought. "If I can't use Way To Dawn, what's left?" He thought, and found that the answer to his question was nothing. "Unless…" He slowly stood and brought his eyes up so that they were level with Twine's. "If I were to give you Way To Dawn right now, would you let Sora go?" he panted.

"It's too late for that," Twine snapped. "You had your chance, but you ruined it for yourself, _and_ Sora." A dark portal opened up behind him, and he turned around to go through.

"No, wait," Riku shouted, taking a step forward. "Please, I'm begging you. Don't hurt him." Twine stopped his stride and actually turned to face Riku. A few long seconds passed, and Riku was starting to think that Twine was going to reject his request.

"Fine then," Twine spat. "This is the last chance I'm going to give you. Come to the place where you first met me. I'll be keeping him there. You have a day to come, but if I don't have Way To Dawn by this time tomorrow, I really am going to kill him." With that, Twine turned and left through his portal.

As the last remnants of the dark portal disappeared, Riku stared out into space. His legs all of a sudden felt too weak to hold him up, and so he sank down to his knees.

"How could I let this happen?" he breathed. Riku didn't think he'd ever been so scared in all of his life. Sora was in the hands of a deranged nobody, one that had no regard for his life at all. Twine had so little regard for it that he'd been about to go kill Sora just a few moments ago. "That was too close," Riku thought, shuddering at the thought of what would have happened if he hadn't convinced Twine not to do it. He had a new lease on life now, or rather Sora did, literally. He couldn't mess it up this time.

Slowly, Riku stood, swallowing at the bad taste in his mouth. He didn't bother reaching into his pocket to grab the orange juice that was still in there. There was no time to stop for a drink as he walked towards the door that led away from the Cove. He had to find Kairi. He had to save Sora.

**To Be Continued… **

Okay! The second chapter is done. Was Riku in character? He may be mister "cool and collected," but he _does_ have the right to be scared, right? Correct me if I'm wrong. This is The Mangosity saying, actually, asking, if you have two black cats that meow, _constantly_, what do you do to make them stop?

* * *


	3. Off To The Rescue

**Disclaimer: I do not own Kingdom Hearts.**

* * *

**WARNING! WARNING! **One Kanji character appears in this chapter. If your computer doesn't know how to read Japanese, specifically Kanji, you should do one of two things:

For Internet Explorer Go to "View," and then "Encoding" Select "Japanese (Auto-Select)" For Netscape or Firefox Go to "View," and then "Character Encoding" Select "Auto-Detect," and then "Japanese"

I found this out just recently, and so I don't know what you can do if you're using anything other than these two browsers. You can probably find a way to read Japanese on Google.

Since I have your attention now, I might as well say that, because of a review I got, I corrected some of the spelling mistakes I made in the first chapter. If some of you were a little confused by it, you may want to go reread the chapter to possibly make sense of some things. That's all! You can read the story now!

* * *

Kidnapped

Riku walked down the silent, deserted beach, not exactly knowing what to do. Sora had been taken, and the only way to get him back was to give Way To Dawn to Twine, the one that had taken him. Although it would be very easy for Riku to yield to Twine's request and retrieve Sora, things really weren't that simple. Handing Way To Dawn over to Twine was handing it over to a person of the dark. Riku didn't know what Twine had planned for Way To Dawn, but he knew it was something he had to prevent. To do this would mean refusing to hand over Way To Dawn. If he refused to hand over Way To Dawn, then Twine would do…something to Sora. Riku didn't want to think about what Twine would do to his friend if he didn't comply with his task.

"What do I do?" Riku sighed, placing his hand onto the Seaside Shack. He'd never felt so powerless about anything before. Looking up, Riku saw a mass of black lying in the sand. At first he didn't know what it was, but he soon remembered. It was the other Sora. Seeing this Sora made Riku realize that he had to focus on one problem at a time to get out of this situation. He went over to Sora and kneeled down next to him.

"Sora," Riku called, placing a hand on the replication's shoulder. "Wake up." He gave Sora a little shake and he started stirring. In a few seconds blue eyes met with sea green. Anger flashed in Sora's eyes and he twisted around, his hands outstretched for Riku's neck. Riku was ready for this though. He caught hold of Sora's wrists and pushed him down to the sand, pinning his arms to his side.

"Let go of me," Sora cried, writhing in Riku's grasp.

"Look, I just want to talk," Riku grunted, increasing the strength of his hold. Sora didn't stop trying to get away, but Riku new that Sora would eventually tire himself out. Riku had had a few instances like this with the real Sora, none as intense as this one, but they were all relatively the same. With their constant sparing matches, Riku and Sora had often had small tussles like this. Riku had almost always gotten away from Sora, but rarely had Sora ever been able to get away from Riku.

The truth was, Riku was stronger than Sora. Sora's heart may have been the strongest of the pair's, but physically, Riku was strongest. Sora was younger than he was, and naturally this forced a significant difference on the strength they each possessed. Riku was positive that the replication in his grip not only looked like Sora, but was also just as strong as Sora. If this was the case, the replication wasn't getting away.

Sora seemed to realized this now, as his struggling started to diminish and he calmed down a bit.

"What do you want?" he growled, a defiant look in his eye.

"Twine's gone," Riku told him. "He left."

"Yeah, so?"

"He left you here. Why?"

"That's none of your business," Sora mumbled, averting his gave from Riku's. Riku could tell he'd hit a sensitive button.

"Is he still on you side?" Riku probed further.

"I said it's none of your business," Sora shouted, his eyes snapping back up to Riku. Riku could tell that Sora was trying to keep something from him.

"Twine kidnapped Sora, and you're still here," Riku said. "I think it's _very_much my business." Riku stared down at Sora for a few more seconds before Sora finally responded.

"I'm a replication," he said, bitterly. He didn't elaborate.

"That doesn't tell me anything. I already know that"

"Replication spells only last for three days," Sora sighed, as if Riku was the stupidest person he'd ever known. "If three days pass and the replication hasn't been dismissed, the spell deactivates itself."

"Are you saying you're going to die in three days?" Riku asked, astonished at the thought of how cruel that would be.

"_No_ I don't _die_," Sora retorted. "I just go back to Twine and wait for him to cast another replication spell." He said the last part with an undertone.

"You don't like Twine very much, do you?" Riku asked, studying Sora's face for any signs of a lie. Sora narrowed his eyes at Riku.

"What are you getting at?" he asked. "And what does it matter to you whether or not I like him?" Riku sighed.

"Look, I'm just going to cut to the chase," Riku said sternly. "Sora's been taken to another world, and Twine wants me to come chasing after him. I can do this. It's Saturday, and my parents will be too drunk tonight to notice if I'm gone for a day." Kairi's parents were out of town this weekend, so there wouldn't be a problem with getting her off the world either. "Sora's parents will notice though. They're very strict about him being home, but Sora's not here. He _won't _be here, but you will."

"You're not saying…"

"_Yes_ I _am_saying," Riku practically shouted. "Take Sora's place while I go get him back. I know it sounds strange, but I don't know what else I can do." Riku knew the replication Sora was going to say no. Why wouldn't he? He was a replication that Twine had made, so naturally he was going to refuse to help Riku do anything against Twine.

"You want me to take Sora's place while you go save him?' Sora asked, a slight smirk on his face. Riku gave a weak nod. He knew which answer was about to come. "Sure, I can do that." Riku's eyes widened and he let out the breath he'd been holding.

"What did you say?" he asked, disbelieve lining his voice.

"You say that like you want me to change my mind. I said I'd do it."

"Why?" Riku couldn't believe that the replication was actually going to help him. "You're not tricking me are you?"

Sora's expression softened as he said, "No, I'm not tricking you. What you said before about me not liking Twine was absolutely true. I _hate_ him. He's always kidnapping people and holding them for ransom. It's not right."

"If you hate him so much, why do you keep helping him?"

"If I hadn't helped Twine all of those times, he wouldn't have ever cast a replication spell again. I wouldn't have been able to come out."

"So you're helping me to get back at Twine?"

"Yes." Sora's voice took on a more interested tone now. "You know, it's been a while since I've done something like this. You're a very rare case Riku."

"You've done this before?" Riku hadn't considered the fact that the replication had helped other people.

"Well, few people figure out that I'm a replication when Twine replaces their friends and loved ones with me. When they find out about me, usually they go after the one that Twine took to try and save them, _without_ giving Twine what he wants, like you did. Most of the time they fail…"

"Like I did," Riku said, his voice sad and remorseful. He still wouldn't forgive himself for letting Sora slip away so easily.

"I wasn't going to say that. Besides, it happens to everyone who figures out about me. They try to save their loved one, they fail, and then they ask for my help. You shouldn't beat yourself up for letting it happen." A few moments of silence passed.

"So you'll help me?" Riku asked.

"I will."

"You promise it's not a trick?"

"I swear it isn't." Riku took a deep breath, and then he let Sora's arms go and stepped to the side so that Sora could stand.

"Are you sure you can do this?" Riku asked. He couldn't have Sora's parents figuring out that their son was, in fact, not their son.

"I've got his memories," Sora said, tapping a finger to the side of his head. "I _do_ know how to do this."

"Okay," Riku said, a little less enthusiastically than he'd intended to.

"You really should lighten up a little," Sora told him. "You can't save him if you go around moping like that." Riku watched as Sora turned around and held his hand out. A dark portal appeared in front of him and he stepped towards it.

"You can make corridors?" Riku asked, obviously surprised.

"Twine made me, and since he can do it, I can too." He started to step into the portal when he suddenly blurted out, "Oh." He turned back around to face Riku. "You said he took Sora to another world. Did he give you a deadline to get to him?"

"Yes."

"Whatever you do, _don't_ miss that deadline, not even by a second. He's given you a second chance, but it's the last one he'll give you."

"Okay," Riku replied. "Thanks. Then he added, "For everything." Sora gave a small smile.

"It's what I do," he said. He gave Riku a shooing gesture. "You should go now. You're only wasting time standing her talking to me."

"Right." Riku turned towards the docks. "Good luck," he said, before breaking out in a run.

"Keep your luck," Sora's voice called out to Riku. "You need it more than I do, _way_ more."

* * *

"Where am I?" Sora thought. His eyes were closed, and he was lying against something hard. It definitely wasn't his bed. "I must've fallen out," Sora decided. He made to move his hands to the ground to push himself up, but he couldn't. Something was holding his arms back behind him and he couldn't bring them apart. "Rope," he thought, and then, with horror, his eyes snapped open. After he got the chance to clear his head, Sora realized that what had happened before had not been a dream. He _had_ been kidnapped, and _had_ been held hostage.

The last thing he remembered was Riku, but after him there was nothing. He knew he must've fallen through a dark portal since that would account for the darkness he'd experienced, but it had been strange. One second he'd been falling and the next he'd been waking up. He hadn't felt himself hit the ground.

"I must've passed out," Sora thought. With some difficulty, he managed to sit up so that he could look around and see where he was. His eyes widened as he took in his surroundings. He hadn't thought he'd ever come back to this place again. With the neon lights surrounding him, the granite square, and the bright building towering above him, Sora knew exactly where he was. "This can't be happening," Sora thought frantically. No matter how much Sora tried to convince himself that this was all just a bad dream, deep inside he knew it was real. "I have to get away."

The small tug he gave at his wrists wasn't at all full hearty. It was really just a test to see if his bonds had loosened any. They were just as tight, though, as they had been when Twine first applied them. Sora gave a groan of frustration as he lowered himself back down onto the ground. He hated the powerlessness he had over the situation.

He didn't know anything. He didn't know if Riku was all right, he didn't know why he'd been brought to this of all places, and he didn't know what was going to happen to him.

"Am I just supposed to wait for someone to…" Sora's thoughts were suddenly cut short as a dark portal appeared a few meters in front of him. In a couple of seconds, his captor stepped through, just as Sora knew he would.

"Hm, so you made it through," Twine commented offhandedly. "Riku would probably be angry if I'd accidentally lost you inside a corridor." Sora wanted, so much, to just summon his Key Blade and teach this person a lesson, but he couldn't. Even if his hands hadn't been tied behind his back he still wouldn't have been able to do it. Through some kind of magic, Twine had taken the Key Blade away from Sora.

Now Twine stepped around Sora, walking to a place outside Sora's range of vision. "You're very lucky you're not dead right now, you know," he continued. Sora heard a small fluffing noise, like a sheet, and a cruel sounding chuckle. "I swear you friend almost started crying trying to vouch for you." Sora heard the sound of Twine walking back towards him.

Before Sora knew it, he felt Twine's arms sliding underneath him. He gave a small yelp as Twine lifted him up into his grasp. Twine climbed the few steps of a staircase that was more of a foyer. At the head of the stairs, Sora could see a creamy white blanket that had been laid out on the ground.

Twine set him down on top of it. When Twine stepped back, Sora remained in the sitting position and didn't lie down like he knew Twine wanted. Instead, he said something inaudible through his gag.

"You really shouldn't bother," Twine said, shaking his head as if Sora was an idiot. "I can't understand anything you're saying." Sora persisted though, repeating what he'd said until Twine finally seemed to give in. He reached down and tugged the cloth from Sora's mouth. "What is it?" he asked, obviously annoyed.

Sora gave a cough, as his mouth had grown awfully dry, before saying, "Who are you? And what do you want with Riku?" A smirk came to Twine's face.

"You don't know, do you?" he asked, his tone sounding as if he'd forgotten this fact. He tossed the cloth in his hand to the ground. They call me Twine. As for my reasons for wanting Riku, you don't need to know them."

"But I…" Sora didn't get for at all with his sentence before briskly being interrupted by Twine.

"**Sleep**," Twine ordered. "Riku will be here in a while to retrieve you."

"What?" Sora asked. All of a sudden, Sora didn't know why, but all of a sudden he felt tired. He let out a sleepy moan and leaned back against the blanket closing his eyes. He rolled to one side. This tiredness didn't feel natural at all. He didn't even think he'd ever been this tired before in all of his life. "Of all the worlds it could've been," Sora thought, succumbing to the weight of sleep, "It had to be The World That Never…" That was as far as Sora's thoughts went before he fell asleep.

* * *

"Kairi, you're getting better," Kairi's piano teacher commented.

"Oh, thank you Ms. Tanaka," Kairi said, grinning as she collected her piano books. "I worked really hard this week. I practiced every day." Her teacher smiled.

"Well, keep doing that and you'll be an expert in no time." Once the pair had shared their good byes, Kairi left the room of the recreation center she took piano classes in.

"Okay," she thought. "Now that that's over, I just need to go find Riku and Sora." This wouldn't be a hard thing to do at all. Though the town was too large to search, Kairi knew that there was a limited number of places Riku and Sora could've been. Most likely, they were at an arcade.

Finally Kairi reached the outside of the building and sighed. Now she _actually_ felt like her piano lessons were over.

"I think I'll try the arcade over on Crestwood," she thought. She looked around to try and figure out how to get to Crestwood from there, as she had forgotten how, when she spotted Riku, who was sitting on a park bench that lined the path. "Huh?" she said out loud. She hadn't expected Riku to be here. He was supposed to be with Sora. "It's not like I can possibly make a mistake with this one," Kairi thought, walking over to her friend. Riku was the only sixteen year old on the island with silver hair. Once she was within earshot, Kairi called out to him, "Riku."

Her friend looked up at her, but instead of receiving the smile she expected, Riku's eyes became clouded and distant.

"Hey, what's the matter?" Kairi asked once she'd gotten next to Riku. "You look sad."

"I just need to talk to you," Riku sighed, looking down at his feet. He definitely wasn't happy.

"Oh. Okay." Kairi looked to her left and then to her right. "Where's Sora?" Riku looked from his shoes to meet eyes with Kairi.

"He's what I need to talk to you about." He motioned for her to sit down next to him and she did. Kairi was starting to think that she wasn't going to like what Riku had to tell her. Riku's expression held fear and worry, two things that were usually absent from his eyes. She knew something terrible must have happened to make him act this way.

A good long while passed and still Riku hadn't said anything.

"Riku," Kairi said softly, placing a hand on Riku's arm. "What's happened?" Riku gave a sigh and looked up at Kairi from having looked back down.

"Do you promise you won't start to panic?" Riku asked. There was a firmness behind his voice as if this was something he really needed her to do.

"I'll try not to," Kairi answered, trying to sound reassuring.

"Okay," Riku said, readying himself. "Sora's been kidnapped."

"Kidnapped?" Kairi asked, her eyes widening in disbelief. "What do you mean?"

"I _mean_he's been kidnapped. He's been taken," Riku said, trying to get the situation over to Kairi. "I saw it happen with my own eyes."

"Riku we've got to call the police if what you're saying is true. We've got to tell his parents, we've got to…"

"_Shh_," Riku hissed. Kari was starting to get too loud. "We can't call the police Kairi. Not for this."

"Riku, we've tot to do _something_." Kairi was surprised that Riku was so apposed to her suggestion.

"Kairi," Riku said with a gentle voice. "The one that took him is from the dark." Realization lit up in Kairi's eyes. "Telling anyone else about this would mean telling them about the other worlds." The silence after Riku said this was immense. It lasted for a very long time. When Kairi started trembling, Riku started to worry. "Kairi?" he asked, putting his hands on her shoulders. "Are you all right?" This was what Riku hadn't wanted to happen. Slowly, Kairi turned her head to face Riku.

"How did this happen, Riku?" she asked quietly. Riku thought. To answer this question, he would have to think back, back to when Sora was still asleep regaining his memories.

"Kairi," Riku began. "This all started when I met a man named Twine."

* * *

It was dark on this world. The rocky granite material that almost everything was made of only added to this darkness. Eerie blue florescent lights buzzed high above, and a brightly lit building stood at the center of the square. Even with the many surrounding lights, the world still appeared dark.

As I stood at the head of the square, which was also the end of an alleyway, I waited, and listened. I didn't see any of the above things mentioned. I was blindfolded. The only reason I knew what everything looked like was because I'd previously been to this world to study it. I'd made sure I knew where every nook and cranny was. I'd also trained, honing my senses and my reflexes so that I could fight without my sight. All of that work had been for this moment right here.

I crossed my arms and slumped against the wall, heaving a sigh in the process. I really didn't want to be here. The World That Never Was wasn't exactly a place I would come to in my spare time. The only reason I'd come here was because of Sora.

As it turned out, things weren't as simple as just waiting for Naminé to rejuvenate Sora's memories. Apparently, Sora wasn't whole, wasn't complete. Sora had once lost his heart. Through some circumstances that no one will tell me about, he managed to get it back. When a person loses their heart, a being called a nobody is created, and Sora wasn't an exception to this fact. He went on with his life, unaware that he was actually co-existing with his nobody. This was why Sora was so special.

When he lost his heart, in a sense he should have died. Sora had lived though, and so had his nobody, Roxas. Roxas held a piece of Sora, a piece that was vital in waking my friend from the sleep Naminé had placed over him.

This was why I was on The World That Never Was. I was to retrieve Roxas and bring him back to Naminé and DIZ, the one that oversaw Sora's progress in regaining his memories. Sora was gaining his memories back very slowly, slower than Naminé had intended him to. DIZ had guessed that Sora was going so slowly because of the fact that he didn't have Roxas. Since this was the case, DIZ had sent me to go get Roxas and bring him to Sora.

"In theory," DIZ had said. "Sora could never wake up if he doesn't have Roxas."

After hearing this, I'd known that I wouldn't have any other choice but to go find Roxas.

I'd once seen Roxas. It had been on one of my trips to examine The World That Never Was. The moment I'd seen him I'd gasped so loudly that I'd almost given away my hiding spot. Roxas looked just like Sora. His hair was a different color and his voice was notably different, but in the face, he was Sora. This would be a problem.

I was supposed to get Roxas from The World That Never Was to Twilight Town, but from observing Roxas for a while I could tell that he wasn't the kind of person that would come with me willingly. Most likely I would have to use force. In fact, I was _sure_ I would have to use force. I would have to fight him. I would have to hurt him. This would be hard for me. How was I supposed to hurt someone who was like a twin to my best friend?

_Just because you look like Sora, don't think I won't hurt you._

_That_had been bold of me. It had been a kind of bluff in a way. I probably would have been able to hurt the replication if I'd needed to, but it wouldn't have been as easy as I made it seem. I had a similar kind of problem with Roxas. Roxas looked so much like Sora that if I hurt him, it would feel like I was hurting Sora. I couldn't afford a distraction like that.

It was this conflict that led me to the solution of wearing a blindfold. If I couldn't see anything, I would be able to do anything I wanted to Roxas. He would be just like any other shadow in the darkness. It wouldn't matter that he looked like Sora.

"This had better go well," I thought. "If I don't get this right, Sora might not wake up." Now I knew that it was time for me to go. I knew that the moment I set foot into the square, hoards of heartless would swarm me, but I still had to go. I'd stalled long enough, and Naminé, DIZ, and Sora were waiting.

I took two steps, waiting for the right time to draw my Soul Eater weapon. Nothing happened. I waited some more, and still nothing happened.

"What?" I thought. "Why aren't there any heartless?" I looked around, or rather, I turned my head around to see if I could hear anything. There wasn't a sound. I let a few seconds pass, and that's when I heard the small pattering noise of footsteps. "Who's the…" I started, but was caught of guard as someone's hand came up to the blindfold around my eyes. Before I could do anything, the cloth, along with a few of my hairs, was pulled away. It was just my luck that I had to be staring in the direction of the most brightly lit thing on the world.

I gave a small hiss and brought a hand up to my eyes, shielding them from the light cast by the towering building in front of me. It'd been a few hours since I'd first put the blindfold on, so this much light coming at me all at once strung quite a bit.

"Hello, Riku," came a voice from in front of me. I moved my hands down a little, and even though spots were dancing around in my vision, I was able to make out the form of a tall man with dark hair. He was wearing an organization coat.

"Who are you?" I asked, my eyes starting to get used to the light. "And how do you know my name?"

"Sneaking around, listening to conversations," the man said, his voice cool and calm. "You were the subject of many conversations in the organization quite a few months ago. Something about annihilating two of their members." I'd just met this person, and already I knew that he liked to confuse people.

"You still haven't told me who you are," I said, my voice showing how annoyed I was at the moment.

For some reason, the man gave a small smirk before saying, "They call me Twine."

"And _why_ are you here?" My patience was wearing thin.

"I want you to show me your weapon," Twine replied. "I want to see if I've come for the right person." After this he put his hand out, and a large, strange looking sword assimilated in his grasp. It had a wooden hilt and a very curved blade, and in between the hilt and blade was a large orb with swirling shadows inside it. The Kanji 束 hung from a chain at the end of the hilt. "Come on. Draw your weapon out. I don't have all day."

Normally, I wouldn't have listened to some stranger's orders, but after Twine finished talking he started charging at me, so I really didn't have any other choice but to draw my weapon. I held my hand out, expecting Soul Eater to appear, but it didn't. Instead, Way To Dawn, as Naminé called it, came to my hand.

"Great," I thought. "Not again." Lately when I'd tried to summon Soul Eater, this strange, new Key Blade would appear. Naminé had said that it was a sign that I was moving away from the darkness, and that the darkness in my heart was seeping away. I knew this was a good thing, but it was still annoying not knowing when this Key Blade was all of a sudden going to pop up.

I held Way To Dawn up in front of me, blocking the harsh downward thrust Twine sent my way. I pushed him away and stepped back a few steps, putting some distance between him and myself. There was a confident smirk on Twine's face, and I didn't know why.

"You _are_ the one I've been looking for," he said, lowering his weapon to the side. He stuck his empty hand out, "Hand it over."

"What? This?" I asked, lifting up Way To Dawn. The look on his face told me that the answer was yes. "No. Did Organization XIII send you? Tell them I'm not interested in anything they have to offer." At this, Twine gave a small laugh.

"I _am_ a nobody, but that doesn't mean I'm apart of Organization XIII," he said. "Not everyone wearing an Organization coat is apart of the Organization. You should know that." He pointed down at the black coat I was wearing. "Besides, I don't take orders from some Organization leader. I only work for myself. Now, are you going to give me Way To Dawn, or am I going to have to force it away?"

"I'm not giving you anything," I growled, putting on a defensive stance.

"Have it your way then." He once again lifted his sword, and this time when he charged towards me he was faster. He swung his sword and I narrowly missed being hit by it. I then tried to swing Way To Dawn at him, but he blocked it. I separated our blades and finally managed to get in a series of combos. This sent him flying.

"You're going to wish you'd just handed it to me in the first place," Twine growled, his voice spitting venom. He shot up to his feet, but no sooner had that registered in my mind than I felt the wind being knocked out of me. Twine's blow knocked me back a good two meters, and as I hit the ground I realized that Way To Dawn was no longer in my grasp. It had been knocked out of my hand, and was now on the ground at Twine's feet. I hoisted myself up on my elbows, coughing, watching as Twine reached down and grabbed Way To Dawn off of the ground.

"Finally," he said, staring down at Way To Dawn with an admiring gaze. "I've been waiting for this for a while." At this point he noted the death glare I was giving him. "I did warn you. You should've listened to me."

I didn't have a very good idea of what was going on. I barely knew who Twine was, and I had no idea why he wanted Way To Dawn, but I did know one thing. Twine had interrupted my mission. I was supposed to be finding Roxas, but instead I was toying around with this guy. I needed to end this now.

I jumped up from the ground, thrust my hand out, and called out to Way To Dawn. It disappeared from Twine's grasp and reappeared in mine, and then, in one fluid move, I rushed over to Twine and swatted his sword out of his hand, sending it sailing to the other side of the plaza.

"Now go away, and leave me alone," I growled, straightening up and glowering at the back of his head.

"So, you're not going to give it to me?" Twine asked, stepping away from me.

"What do you think?" He was really getting on my last nerve.

"Fine then," Twine retorted, finally turning to face me. "But when we meet again, you're going to regret not giving it to me." He opened a portal behind him and started backing towards it. "I will have Way To Dawn, no matter how much I have to persuade you." Then, he disappeared into the shadows.

I was alone now. I looked around. The world really was dark, and drab too. I sighed. I wouldn't be able to complete my mission, not today. My blindfold was gone, and I was tired.

"Next time," I thought. "Next time I'll get it right."

* * *

"After that he left, and I didn't see him again for almost a year," Riku said. "So I guess I just decided that he'd forgotten about me." He sighed. "But now he's come back. He's come here."

"Is he the one that took Sora?" Kairi asked.

"Yes," Riku replied. He sounded angry. "He wants me to bring Way To Dawn to The World That Never Was in exchange for Sora. We need to get there as soon as we can." Riku stopped now to look down at his watch. It was 10:15. He needed to wrap this up. "Okay, listen Kairi. Twine wants Way To Dawn and his exact words were, 'by this time tomorrow,' so we have about a day to get it to him."

"Riku," Kairi said, her voice surprised. "You're actually planning on giving it to him?"

"Well, right now I am," Riku admitted, standing. "But that's only if we can't come up with something else. If we can't, I won't have any other choice but to hand it over."

"Riku?" Kairi asked, standing along with Riku. Her tone was hushed. "What happens…if you don't hand it over?"

For a few seconds Riku didn't answer her. He hadn't wanted Kairi to ask this question, at least not now. He'd already scared her enough with telling her that Sora had been kidnapped, and he really didn't want to tell her that Sora might be killed because of this. That would frighten her even more.

Finally, Riku answered with, "Something bad Kairi. Something very bad." Kairi wasn't satisfied with Riku's answer, but she let it pass. She understood if Riku didn't want to tell her what would happen to Sora. She had a feeling she knew what would happen anyway.

"So, what are we going to do now?" she asked.

"Well, we should probably go to our houses and get some food, and maybe something to do. A trip to The World That Never Was is going to take a while."

"Um, Riku? How are we going to be making this trip?" Riku gave a small grin.

"Don't worry," he said. "I've got it all taken care of."

* * *

"Come on. _Fit_," Riku grunted as he stuffed a small metal lunchbox into the backpack he was preparing. He'd packed everything he could think of that might help with the journey he was about to make. He'd packed the lunchbox, which included some fruit and leftover meat, a water bottle, a couple of blankets in case they were needed, one book, and a first aid kit. He really hoped he wouldn't have to use the latter once he got to The World That Never Was, but he knew he had to bring it in case Twine had done anything to Sora. If Twine _had _laid even a scratch on Sora, Riku didn't know what he'd do, but he did know that it would involve Twine and inflicting pain.

Riku gave the lunchbox one final shove and it finally slid inside. He zipped up the backpack and moved it aside to stand, and then he walked over to the desk where his computer was. He opened the topmost drawer, reached inside and pulled out a small, metal, rectangular object with a red button at its center.

"I never thought I would have to use this," Riku said out loud. He slipped the thing into his pocket and walked back over to the backpack to sling the straps over his shoulders. At last he was ready to go.

He left the house with no confrontations with his mother, which was good since he wouldn't have any explanation for the assortment of objects he was carrying. He headed towards the bench he and Kairi had been at earlier, since this was the place they had agreed to meet, and sure enough Kairi was sitting there waiting for him. She didn't see him walking towards her, as she seemed to be looking for something in the small tote bag she had slung around her shoulder.

"So, are you ready to go?" Riku asked, startling her.

"Yeah," she answered, obviously a little embarrassed from just having been surprised. "I think I forgot to pack my little mirror though." Riku couldn't help but smile at this.

"I don't think you're going to need that for this," he said.

"Yeah, I guess you're right." Kairi stood. "So how are we going to get off this world?"

"We're going to use this." Riku pulled the rectangular object out of his pocket.

"What is it?"

"It's something King Mickey gave to me a long time ago," Riku explained. "He said that if I ever needed to get somewhere, I only needed to push this button and a Gummi Ship would show up."

"A _Gummi_Ship?" Kairi exclaimed. "How are we going to call a Gummi Ship _here_?"

"We aren't going to call it here," Riku reassured her. "I _do_ know what I'm doing, you know."

"Where are we going to call it then? Isn't a Gummi Ship too big for any place around here?"

"It's too big for any place on _this_island," Riku said. "But not all of the islands."

At first Kairi seemed not to understand, but then she gave a little, "Oh."

"Are we ready to go?" Riku asked, making sure they really were ready to leave before departing.

"Yeah, we are."

"Then let's go." Together, he and Kairi walked down the path, headed for one of the only islands they knew of that could hold a Gummi Ship.

* * *

"It's been five minutes since you pushed it Riku. Are you sure it works?" Kairi asked.

"Yes I'm sure it works," Riku replied. "It was the king that gave it to me, and I think he would've mentioned it if it was going to stop working." As Riku and Kairi stood near the door that led to the Cove, they were starting to have second thoughts about their plan. It had been quite a while since Riku had pushed the button of the small device in his hand, and still there was no sign of a Gummi Ship coming over the horizon.

"Riku, what if this doesn't work?" Kairi asked. There was a sense of amounting desperation in her voice, and Riku understood the feeling quite well. He'd been thinking the same thing.

"I…I don't know," Riku said. "If this doesn't work I guess we could contact Disney Castle…" He then started shaking his head. "No. The message wouldn't get there in time. By the time they could help us it would be too late." He looked to the horizon. "This has to work. There's no other way."

No sooner had the words left his mouth than he spotted something. At first he thought it might be the Gummi Ship, but then he saw that it was something round. It was obviously not any ship of any kind. It was rippling, and surging. It was a wormhole. In a few seconds the Gummi Ship came flying through.

"Kairi," Riku shouted. "Kairi it's here." He didn't need to tell her though. She'd already seen it. Considering the situation, Riku and Kairi were smiling very much. They couldn't resist it though. The fact that the Gummi Ship was here shed new hope on their worry. They knew that Sora was in danger, and that his life was on the line, but they also knew that they would find a way to save him. They didn't know how they would do it, but they both knew that somehow, they would rescue Sora.

**To Be Continued…**

Sorry this took so long to come out. With this chapter, I had this thing where I had to write down everything before I typed it. Luckily, I don't feel that way about the next chapter, so it'll come sooner than this one did. This is The Mangosity saying, time stops for no man, but we can always hope that one day we'll find a mystical amulet that proves that theory wrong.


	4. Failure And Consequence

**Disclaimer:** I do not own Kingdom Hearts.

Kidnapped

Sora woke with a start. His breathing was rapid and frenzied, and though he couldn't reach up to his forehead to feel, he knew his bangs must have been matted with sweat. He was scared. He'd been scared before of course, but the dream he'd just had made it all worse. He'd dreamed that something terrible had happened to Riku, that Twine had hurt him. In the dream he'd tried to help Riku, but there hadn't been anything he could do. Every time he'd tried to help Riku something would stop him. Twine had been about to strike the final blow on Riku, had been about to kill him, when Sora woke up.

Luckily it had just been a dream, but Sora knew that if anything happened to Riku in real life, it would be his fault. After all, he was the one who had been stupid enough to let himself get captured by a maniac.

After his breathing leveled off and he'd calmed down a bit, Sora let himself think about what exactly it was that Twine was doing.

"He's using me to get to Riku," he thought, and it was true. The problem with Twine was that he knew too much. He knew one of Riku's weaknesses, and that weakness was Sora. Sora knew that Riku would willingly bend to Twine's bidding to save his life, and Twine knew that too. Now that Sora started to think about it, Twine's motives were starting to become clearer. Twine's kidnapping of Sora had been so that Riku would come looking for him, because if Riku came, then that meant that he and Twine could barter over Sora's safety and…something. Sora hadn't been able to process any more than that, as he had no idea what it was that Twine wanted from Riku.

Now that he was thinking of his captor, Sora sat up from lying on the blanket beneath him. He looked to the left and to the right, and though he didn't find Twine Sora did find something else, something far worse than Twine. It was a Neo Shadow, doing its deadly dance only a few meters away from him.

"Oh no," he breathed, but then he wished he hadn't. The heartless' head snapped in Sora's direction, bringing its attention over to him. Though a Neo Shadow normally would've been an easy thing for Sora to handle, at the moment he was defenseless. He struggled harder than he ever had before to pull his wrists from the cords behind him, but still the rope held fast. Sora watched as the Neo Shadow sank into the ground and silently started moving towards him.

The granite ground made the heartless virtually invisible, and soon Sora had lost the thing.

"This is bad," he thought. "This is _very_ bad."

Without the Key Blade in his possession, Sora's heart was extremely vulnerable. Any heartless, even a Shadow, probably could've taken it at this point. It was almost pathetic. Sora waited for the moment when the Neo Shadow would pop out of the ground like he knew it would.

That was when Sora felt a presence come up behind him.

"Don't move." It was Twine. Sora was distracted by Twine's voice only for a second before the Neo Shaddow finally made its move. It burst forth with a small explosion of sound, its claws bared straight for Sora's heart. Sora froze. He didn't even have a chance to make an evading move. The heartless was just too close. He was surprised that Twine actually had a chance to get at the thing.

Everything happened so fast that Sora barely had a chance to catch it all. The Neo Shaddow was just about to rip through him when a blade swooshed passed his face, sharp and curved. The Neo Shaddow disappeared, leaving behind nothing but dark mist. Sora sat there for a moment, feeling dizzy like he couldn't breathe. As Twine came up next to him Sora turned his head to look up at him, his eyes wide and terrified.

"That was the fifth one that's come here," Twine said, scanning the area for any more heartless. "They don't seem to realize that you don't have the Key Blade anymore."

Sora let out a shaky moan as he collapsed down onto his side facing away from the man next to him. He couldn't help the scared little trembles that worked their way through his body. He heard Twine's footsteps as he walked away, but he really didn't care about Twine. He wanted to be away from this place and this man that he hated. He just wanted to be home now.

"Please Riku," he thought. "Please get here soon."

* * *

Riku sat in the soft chair with his elbow on the armrest and his chin in the palm of his hand, thinking. Kairi was in the chair to his far left, sleeping with the chair reclined back. Riku had told her that she should rest, that they might meet some heartless when they disembarked, and she'd taken his advice wholeheartedly. It had been three hours since the teal colored Gummi Ship made it to Destiny Islands. Upon boarding the ship, Riku had checked and found that the ship knew the location of The World That Never Was, but that it had never been there before. This being the case, they weren't going to be able to just warp there. They were going to have to wait a while before actually making it to the world.

Even though the ship was going extremely fast (Riku and Kairi had set it to go as fast as it could) Riku didn't feel very much movement. It was like riding an airplane, really. Though Riku couldn't feel the ship's speed, it was obvious by the way the stars passed that the ship was going very fast. With the ship's current velocity, Riku and Kairi would definitely make it to the World That Never Was in time, but they still had a long way to go.

Riku sighed. He felt tired at the moment. He'd been awake the entire time he'd been on the Gummi Ship, but he wasn't going to let himself sleep. He needed to figure out a way to get Sora away from Twine _without_ handing over Way To Dawn. He was drawing up a blank though, and every plan he invented in his mind ended with Sora dead.

He'd thought of trying to trick Twine into giving him Sora first, making Twine think he would hand over Way To Dawn later but then refusing to give it to him. Riku knew this wouldn't work though. Twine would find a way to get back at him afterwards. It wouldn't be immediate. It would be weeks, months, maybe even _years_ later, but Twine would find a way to get at Sora. This time there would be no warnings, no more chances. He would simply kill Sora and that would be the end of it.

Various other scenarios like this had flashed through Riku's mind, and none of them had ever ended well. He just couldn't come up with a way to get Sora out of this. Riku leaned forward and placed his elbows on his knees, laying his forehead in the palms of his hands.

He couldn't really place a finger on his emotions at the moment. He felt angry, guilty, sad, and many, many other things. All of the things he felt shared one thing in common, and that was the fact that they were all negative. He felt angry that Twine had taken Sora, that he was basically using the boy as bait. He felt guilty that he'd _let_ Twine take Sora. He felt like there was something he could've done to prevent Sora's kidnapping, that he'd failed to do the thing, and that this was why Sora had been taken. The sadness Riku felt was deep down inside him. He didn't like to think about this sadness, and was constantly having to push it away. Now though, Riku couldn't help but think the one thought that he knew would break him if it came true.

"What if Sora's dead when I get there?" he thought. It was a prospect that made his stomach churn with anxiety, and almost made a lump come to his throat. He wanted to forget the deep sadness he was feeling, but for some reason it wouldn't go away this time. He was forced to accept the fact that deep within the sadness was a vast ocean of fear. Now that fear was taking over, making him think things he knew weren't true. He felt like everyone hated him, like he was the worst thing in all of the worlds. He felt like such a failure. He felt like nothing he did would ever turn out right.

If Sora were there, he would have told him otherwise. He would have told him that he was the best at everything, that everything he did ended up all right. Riku would have agreed with him, modestly, of course, and everything would be okay. If Sora were there, he would have felt better. Sora wasn't there though, and so feeling better never came. He simply sat there, wallowing in furious guilt, allowing the sadness to swallow him. He would've stayed this way for a lot longer if a gentle hand at his shoulder hadn't startled him out of his thoughts.

He jerked his head up to meet Kairi's soft eyes.

"Hey," she said softly. "You look sad." Riku stared at Kairi for a few seconds before replying.

"How could I not be?" he sighed. "I messed up Kairi. I messed up _big_ time."

"But you're you, Riku," Kairi said, a small smile on her face. "You'll figure out a way to make everything right again."

"That's just it though. I can't think of anything. I don't know why but I just…I just _can't_." Riku couldn't help but sound absolutely miserable when he spoke.

"Riku, you've got to stop beating yourself up for this," Kairi said, her voice gently stern.

"But Kairi, I…" The look Kairi gave him made Riku stop in the middle of his sentence. It was a look that told him that everything that had happened was not his fault, that he wasn't to blame. It was a look that calmed him down. "I know," he said quietly. "But I can't help it. I just know there was something I could've done to keep this from happening."

It was strange seeing Riku this way. He was usually very on top of himself, but right now he wasn't anywhere close to that. He was stressing, Kairi could see that.

"He's scared," she thought. Kairi knew Riku well enough to know it was true. It was hard to catch, but Kairi was able to detect the slight unevenness in his breathing and the small shudder in his voice. It didn't happen often, but right now Riku was very much afraid. It was because of Sora. Kairi was afraid for Sora too, of course, but her being afraid and Riku being afraid were two very different things.

If he himself had been in danger, Riku wouldn't have been the least bit terrified. It was only when people he knew, people he cared about were in danger that Riku truly became afraid.

"I've got to do something to take his mind off of things," Kairi thought. That was when she remembered the thing she'd brought with her.

"Riku, I have something for you," she said, going to fetch her duffle bag. Riku looked after her with a confused look as she rummaged around in the small bag. After a few moments she finally pulled out a large brown book. She came over to Riku and handed it out to him. As he took the book in his hands, Riku noted the fact that the thing looked ancient. It wasn't decrepit, but it still looked extremely old and slightly battered. The words **Magic For A Spell** were imprinted on the cover.

"It's a book of spells," Kairi explained as Riku inspected the book. "I thought it might help so I brought it with me."

"Where did you get this?" Riku asked, looking up at Kairi with a confused look on his face. "I know there can't be a library on Destiny Islands with anything like this."

"I got it from the library on Radiant Garden, back when it was still Hollow Bastion," Kairi said, smiling.

Now that Kairi mentioned it, Riku had a feeling he actually _had_ seen this book on one of the various times he'd been in Radiant Garden's library.

"So you stole this book from the library?" he asked, a sly smile on his face.

"I didn't _steal_ it," Kairi said, her face beginning to redden. "There was no librarian, and besides I used to live there, so technically it's mine."

"Okay," Riku replied, his voice hinting that he still thought of it as stealing. He opened the book to a random page and scanned the large paragraph that covered it. He gave a slight gasp. He'd heard that sometimes destiny thrusts itself at you, that everything happens for a reason. If he hadn't believed in fate before, he did now.

The spell he was looking at held the answer to everything.

* * *

There was one word that came to Kairi's mind when she and Riku disembarked onto the World That Never Was, and that word was "big." She'd been to the world before, but she'd only ever been inside the big white fortress. She'd never been outside on the dark streets before, and now that she was it felt a little overwhelming. All of the buildings around her stood stories above her head, and the bright moon above cast an eerie glow down onto everything. There were grates scattered here and there and puddles splattered about the ground, giving the place a backwater rained upon feel.

As Kairi stood there taking everything in, Shadows slowly started to seep out of the ground. Much like before, a word came to Kairi's mind. Much unlike the previous word, however, this word was accompanied by an image. The image was of Riku and the last time he'd sprained his ankle. He'd been running across the sand, hadn't seen the dip the land made in time and had tripped. There had been no complaining, no rolling around on the ground or screaming.

Only one word had come out of Riku's mouth, and that word was, "Oh." Then he'd said another word, a word that Kairi certainly wouldn't have said herself. Kairi couldn't help but think this word though, as the most heartless she'd seen since the last time she'd been to the World That Never Was, surrounded her and Riku.

"Riku, you never said there were going to be this many," Kairi muttered, summoning her Key Blade.

"I didn't think there would be," Riku replied, also summoning his Key Blade. He thought back to his previous visits to the World That Never Was. The amount of heartless that would have been in this area back than was about half the amount that had appeared just now. "Maybe since Organization XIII isn't here anymore, the heartless here got…" Riku paused. "No. It's Sora."

Riku knew first hand how much the heartless hungered for Sora's heart. If the heartless had found out that Sora was without his Key Blade, they would stop at nothing to try and get at him.

"Kairi, we have to hurry," he said, looking at Kairi. He pointed to a, somewhat small, group of heartless. "You take those, and I'll take these." As Riku went to charge at the group he'd designated for himself, he felt Kairi tug at his arm. When he turned around he saw that she had a confused worried look on her face. "What?" he asked.

"You only gave me four," she said, gesturing to her measly group of heartless.

"You haven't been doing this for that long. I don't want you to get hurt," Riku explained.

"Well, I understand that, but Riku you gave yourself fifteen." She counted the heartless Riku was going for. "Eighteen? Riku that's almost twenty, and you're afraid _I'm _going to get hurt?" A small smile played itself out on Riku's face.

"You think that's a lot? Once we get Sora out of this, you should ask him about the time he took down 1,000"

* * *

The battle went on for a very long time. The heartless just wouldn't stop coming. If this didn't stop soon, Riku knew it would be a problem. He could keep this up all day if he needed to, but Kairi could not. He'd already had to step in a few times to keep the heartless from overpowering her, but he couldn't keep doing it forever.

Just then he heard Kairi scream his name. He shot around to find that a group of about five Neo Shadows had cornered her against the wall. Up until this point it had only been Shadows that appeared. Now though, it seemed like stronger things were about to start showing up. All around Neo Shadows were starting to take form, and Riku could have sworn he saw the gliding form of a Dusk. He didn't pay any attention to the stronger ones though. He had to get over to Kairi.

"Get down," he shouted, swinging Way To Dawn to the side to prepare himself for his attack. Kairi fell to her knees and flung her hands over her head as Riku's Key Blade came crashing through the line of heartless that surrounded her. His attack destroyed every single one of them. "Come on," Riku panted, offering his hand down to Kairi. Once he'd helped her up he started pulling her off down the path that led to the main plaza.

When they were both a good distance away, Riku dropped Kairi's hand and fell to his knees, heaving.

"Riku, what's wrong?" Kairi asked, placing her hands on his shoulders.

"I…I don't' know…" he wheezed. He felt like he couldn't breathe, like there was no air around him at all. He just felt so drained. "I think it might…have something to do with…that spell…"

"Wait, what spell?"

"The…book…" Riku tried to say, but he was so out of breath that he couldn't go any further.

"Here." Kairi reached into one of her pockets and pulled out a potion. "Drink this." Kairi placed the clear blue container into Riku's trembling hand, and in a few minutes he was breathing normally again. "Now, what spell are you talking about?"

"Okay, you know those Neo Shadows back there?"

"Yeah."

"Well I wanted to get rid of them as fast as I could, so I cast a spell I found in spell book that was supposed to make my attacks stronger." Here, Riku gave a sigh. He just wanted this whole thing with Twine to be over. "It turns out that the spell was too advanced for me. It used up more magic than I have."

"How's that even possible?" Kairi asked.

"It's a little hard to explain," Riku admitted. "Donald could probably explain it to you better than I can. Basically, with some spells, if you don't have enough magic to cast them, they start to feed off of your life energy." At this Kairi's eyes widened.

"Oh, Riku, are you sure you're ready to go through with the plan?"

"Of course I am," Riku replied. "And even if I wasn't, I'd still do it." And to prove that he really was ready, he cast the spell he'd been waiting to cast this entire time, right then and there.

* * *

He lay there, his mind somewhere between asleep and awake. His breathing was deep and bounding, and he felt extremely exhausted. He hardly had any idea where he was, only that he was waiting to be let go. It was only if he truly though about it that Sora remembered that awful truth about where he was and what was happening.

Just thinking about his captor sent a chill of anger and fear running through him. Not much had happened since he'd been brought here. For some reason he'd been asleep most of the time. During the times that he _had_ been awake though, he'd heard the sounds of Twine's blade destroying heartless, heartless that sometimes got a little too close to Sora before Twine got a chance to destroy them.

Sora wished there was something he could do, but he'd given up trying to break the bonds that bit into his wrists a long time ago. There was no use in trying to do something when he knew he couldn't do it.

For a moment, Sora peeked an eye open out onto the plaza that he overlooked. He saw Twine pacing the area, obviously scanning the area for anymore heartless. From what Sora could tell, Twine had destroyed all of the heartless in the area, for now.

"There'll be more," Sora thought tiredly, drawing his legs closer to his chest. "There's always more."

A while of silence passed, and Sora lay there, listening to nothing but the sound of his own breathing. It seemed like all of the heartless had finally been cleared out of the area.

Sora didn't know about the dark shadow looming behind him.

Sora gave a cry as the sharp claws pinched into his skin, the Neo Shadow giving a shrill cry as it latched itself onto its prey.

"Get off," Sora groaned, kicking his legs and trying to wriggle out of the heartless' grasp. The creature was firmly attached though. There was no escape. If it hadn't been for Twine destroying the thing, the feeling of pressure in Sora's chest would have risen to an unbearable level, and his heart would have been taken.

"Hey, you okay?" Twine asked, standing over Sora. He sounded like he didn't care at all. Sora stared up at him with terrified eyes for a few seconds, before finally giving a small moan and moving onto his side. "Hm, good enough," Twine said, giving a small shrug and going back to patrol the area.

Sora didn't know how much time passed after this. It could have been a few minutes, it could have been a few hours, and it even could have been a few days for all he knew. The only thing Sora knew was that there was a long period of silence, and then there was a voice.

"Sora?" The voice called. Sora couldn't believe it. The voice belonged to one of his friends. His mind didn't exactly care to register which one of his friends the voice belonged to. He was just excited that he was finally going to get out of here. He didn't let himself get too excited though, since he remembered what had happened the last time he'd gotten his hopes up, back when he'd been on the island in the small cave.

Twine was around this area somewhere. Sora was sure of that. It wouldn't be as easy as he was sure his friends thought it was going to be to rescue him. They wouldn't be able to get anywhere near Sora without some kind of confrontation with Twine.

* * *

Two figures immerged from the dark depths of the alleyway. One was Riku. One was Kairi. They were both prepared. Riku's plan was firmly in place. The spell he'd cast earlier had really taken a lot out of him. He'd had to rest for what had to be at least 10 minutes before he was all right again, even with another potion. Now he seemed to be doing fine though, as he and Kairi slowly stepped forward into the plaza, proceeding with caution as they went.

This was usually the area with the least amount of heartless, but considering the explosion of heartless that had appeared in the other areas, they weren't going to take their chances. No heartless appeared to greet them though, and in a few moments they each let their defensive stances fall away. They looked around the dark plaza for a bit, wondering at the lack of heartless, and it was a while before either of them spotted the small, crumpled heap at the head of the plaza.

It wasn't until Riku called out, "Sora?" that they realized where he was. "That's Sora." He turned to Kairi and pointed to Sora.

"Of course," Kairi said, her voice rather stern, "Come on." She jerked him forward and they started running towards Sora. They didn't even get halfway to where their friend was though, not before _he_ showed up.

Before the pair knew it, a clang sounded in front of them. They started and jumped back.

"So, you're here," came Twine's cold voice. Riku and Kairi backed away from the large sword Twine had sent crashing in front of them. "Did you bring what I want?" the nobody asked, pulling his sword from the ground.

"Yes," Riku said, summoning Way To Dawn.

"Good." Twine took a step forward with his hand outstretched. Riku quickly drew his Key Blade behind him though, giving Twine a fierce glare.

"Not until you let him go," he said, motioning towards Sora. "Do that, and then we'll talk."

Twine returned Riku's glare. There were a few seconds of silence as the pair stared at each other. Suddenly, Twine's hand shot out in front of him and he clenched it into a fist. From behind him Sora gave a yelp and started groaning.

"Sora?" Kairi cried, starting to take a step forward, but Riku moved his arm in front of her to stop her.

"Stop it now," he growled. His voice was even yet feral, giving it a sense of untapped furry.

Twine let his arm fall free and Sora gave a gasp. He started trembling.

"Then give it to me, unless you want that to happen again."

"Look, the only reason I came here was to make sure Sora was safe, so I'm not giving it to you until he is." It was obvious that Riku was not going to change his mind.

Twine stared at Riku for a good while, before finally saying, "If this is the choice you're going to make, then you've sealed all three of your fates."

He held his sword above his head and charged forward. It was such a fast motion that Riku barely had the chance to twist out of the way. There was just enough time, however, for him and Kairi lock eyes. They each understood.

Riku brought Way To Dawn up to block Twine's second attack and then pushed him away as hard as he could. He backed away and Kairi came up behind him.

"Come on," he said, grabbing her by the wrist and tugging her towards the pathway that led to the fortress.

"Get back here," Twine shouted, his voice the angriest it had ever been. They didn't stop though. They just kept going. With an angry cry Twine lifted his sword up and swung it forward. Riku whisked Kairi in front of him just in time, as the blade swished passed the place where she'd just been.

"Quickly," he hissed, his arm draped over her shoulders in a protective manner to usher her forward.

"But Sora…"

"He's fine. You know it," Riku cut her off, and that was the end of the conversation. They instead concentrated on running from the nobody behind them, the one they knew would definitely kill them if they let him get too close.

It was in this manner that Sora was left alone in the dark plaza. He didn't know what had just happened, couldn't understand what in the world Riku was thinking.

"He's going to get us all killed," Sora thought. He gave a sigh. He knew he probably should have been a little more worried about the situation than he was, but he was just so tired, and so much had happened in these past few hours that he almost didn't care anymore.

"Riku's lost his mind," Sora said aloud.

"No." Sora jumped at the sudden voice. He felt the cords at his ankles start to loosen. "I'm actually very smart."

"Wha…Riku?" Sora didn't understand. "You're here."

"Did he hurt you?" Riku asked, going to untie Sora's wrists.

"Riku, how did you…"

"Did he hurt you?" Riku asked again, more forceful this time.

"No," Sora replied, his voice small and dazed.

"Good." Riku finished untying Sora's wrists and then pulled him into a sitting position. Looking Sora in the eye let Riku know that something was wrong though. Sora was tired, that was plain to see, but there was something more. He could barely hold his head up.

"Hey Sora," Riku said, his voice concerned. "Did Twine give you anything to eat?" If Twine had drugged Sora, Riku was seriously going to be angry.

"No," Sora said softly. "I don't remember eating anything."

"What about drinking? Did you drink anything?"

"No."

"Then what's wrong? Do you feel sick?"

"No," Sora replied again. "Riku, I think he might have cast a spell on me."

"A spell?"

"Yeah, one that makes me sleepy."

Riku knew that this was probably true. Twine seemed to know a lot of spells, and of all the ones he knew, he was bound to know a sleep spell.

"Okay then," Riku finally said. "Let's go." He moved his arms underneath Sora's and pulled him up, and then began leading him towards the Gummi Teleportation site that he and Kairi had made. Sora only managed to take a few steps though, before his legs gave out.

"Sora, you have to get up," Riku said, casting a nervous glance behind him. No one was there, yet. "It's not that far away. Just around the corner. Come on Sora."

"Okay," Sora said, allowing himself to be helped up. "I'll try to…" That was as far as he managed to get before letting out a scream.

"Sora?" Riku shouted above Sora's screams. "Sora what's wrong?"

"Riku," Sora groaned, sinking even further down to the ground. "It hurts." He gave another cry and the last of his strength left him. He fell slack, and Riku was forced to kneel down to keep supporting him. Riku looked Sora up and down. From what he could tell, there didn't seem to be anything wrong with him, but by the pained look on Sora's face, Riku knew that something must have been hurting him.

"Where, Sora? Where does it hurt?" Riku asked. When Sora didn't answer him, Riku called to him again, this time adding a small shake. "Come on Sora. Tell me where it hurts."

With a shaky voice, Sora replied, "Everywhere."

That was when a large scrapping noise sounded from in front of Riku, making him jump. He looked up to see what was making the noise, and what he saw made him go pale. It was Twine, dragging his sword along the ground as he slowly, purposefully walked forward. From the look on his face, Riku could tell that he'd found out what had happened. He'd found out what Riku had done.

The only thing Riku had wanted from all of this was for Sora to be safe. That was all. He would have turned to anything to make sure nothing happened to him. When he'd first opened the book of spells, the first spell that he'd seen had been a Replication Spell. It was a chance, and he'd decided to take it. The plan had come to him immediately upon seeing the spell. He knew exactly what he was going to do.

He would make a replication, a replication of himself, and then he would send it out along with Kairi to find Twine. He would stay at a safe distance and watch, and the replication and Kairi would distract Twine in some way and get him away from Sora. That would be when Riku would make his move. While Twine was off fighting who he thought was Riku, the real Riku had planed to collect Sora and bring him back to the Gummi Ship.

That part of the plan had never come though. Twine had found them out, and now Riku feared that Sora was going to end up paying for it. The expression on Twine's face as he slowly moved in on the pair was a murderous calm, and Riku knew, even before Twine said anything, that he was the cause of all Sora's pain.

"He dies, now." That was all Twine said as he stopped a few feet away from them.

"No, you can't," Riku cried, his voice not at all forceful like he'd intended it to be. It sounded just as terrified as he actually was.

"Watch me," Twine snarled. Then he brought his free hand up and snapped his fingers.

Sora gave a gasp. He stopped screaming. Blotches of darkness started dancing around in his vision, and he felt a sort of calm sweeping over him. He couldn't exactly decide whether or not it felt good. He heard Riku calling out to him, saying muted things he couldn't understand. The darkness was taking over now, covering and spreading over everything he saw.

He felt a hand tapping at his face, and it pricked him awake enough to hear Riku say, "Come on Sora. Stay with me."

"Ri…ku…" Sora whispered, managing to look up his friend. "I…can't feel my arms and legs."

"Just hold on Sora," Riku said softly, trying to think of what to do. "You're going to be okay."

"Go ahead and lie to him," Twine scoffed from ahead. "The good it'll do him."

"Shut up," Riku hissed, glowering up at Twine. "Just shut up." Riku hated this person. He hated him with everything he had. Whatever Twine had done to Sora, it was killing him, but Twine didn't seem to care at all. He hadn't even hesitated to do it, and for that Riku hated him. The worst part of the whole thing was that Riku couldn't do anything. Sora was dying right in front of him, and there wasn't a thing he could do to stop it.

"…ah…Ri…" Sora breathed. Riku looked down at Sora to find that his eyes were slipping closed.

"No, Sora you've got to stay awake," Riku said, shaking Sora to try and keep him from falling asleep.

"Riku…I feel…" Sora started, but he never got to finish his sentence. His eyes slid closed, and his head lolled to the side.

"Sora?" Riku called, a small gasp escaping him. He realized with horror that Sora had stopped breathing. "Sora?" His hand flew to Sora's wrist and he took it between his thumb and forefinger. He couldn't find a pulse. Whatever Twine had done, it had run its course. Sora was gone.

**To Be Continued…**

Well, that was the fourth chapter. I hope everyone liked it! And I hope I don't lose anyone because of that little ending. I really had to decide whether to extend the chapter or to end it right here, and I eventually decided to make it this way! Stick around for the next chapter, which I won't even try to predict…This is The Mangosity saying, some are born great, some achieve greatness, and others have greatness thrust upon them.

* * *


	5. The Pain Of Loss

Kidnapped

Kidnapped

"Sora," Riku breathed, gripping Sora's listless form. "Sora, please wake up." Sora didn't wake up though. He stayed as motionless and lifeless as only death can make a person. Riku didn't want to believe it. He didn't want to believe that Sora was gone forever. He pressed his ear against Sora's chest and hoped that he'd only failed to locate Sora's heartbeat in his wrist, hoped that it was, possibly, just too weak to detect in the wrist, but he had no such luck. Sora was devoid of a heartbeat, devoid of life. He truly was dead.

"No," Riku whispered softly. "Sora…" He gripped Sora tightly, holding him close. He didn't know what to do, didn't know what to feel. He only knew that there was a big ache in his chest. "I shouldn't have let it get this far," he thought, wretchedly. "I should've ended this when I could have. I should've…" He stopped, and suddenly realized something. None of this had been his fault. None of it had been his fault at all. He'd tried his best to make everything right again, and though it hadn't exactly been enough, it still wasn't his fault. All this time he'd been blaming himself for everything that had happened, but he wasn't to blame at all. Twine was. It was Twine that had caused this chaotic mess, it was Twine that had kidnapped Sora, and it was Twine that had taken the life of his best friend. Twine was the cause of everything.

"You," Riku growled, staring up at Twine with venomous eyes. His glare intensified. "How could youdo something like this?" he screamed. "How _could_ you?" Twine gave a cruel smirk.

"You could have stopped it, you know," he said. "You could have stopped it all. All you had to do was give up Way To Dawn, an object, a material thing. I'm sure that would have been a lot better than giving up your friend." Inside, Riku was wincing. He tried to tell himself that this hadn't been what he'd done.

"It's not like I chose some prized possession over my best friend," he thought, but Twine's words where starting to send doubt into Riku. Sora was a person, and Way To Dawn was, indeed, an item, a thing. It would never live or feel, the way Sora had. It was just an inanimate object, and the way things looked now, what with Sora being dead in his arms and Way To Dawn still being in his possession, it rather did seem like he'd chosen the inanimate object over Sora. "Could I have really made a wrong decision somewhere?" Riku thought, but even as he thought it he knew it was wrong. He hadn't come here to secure his right to Way To Dawn. This whole time, Way To Dawn had hardly even crossed his mind. He had come for Sora, not for Way To Dawn, but for _Sora_. Riku knew he hadn't done anything remotely _like_ choosing Way To Dawn over Sora, and that Twine was just trying to add to the misery he felt right now.

"You know," Twine continued, bringing Riku out of his thoughts, "I'll still be wanting Way To Dawn. Don't think that just because your friend's _dead_ means you're off the hook." He said the word "dead" with force, as if he was trying to dangle this fact in front of Riku's nose, and it only made Riku angry.

"Just shut up," Riku said, his voice bitter. "You're not getting it."

"Well," Twine replied, heaving his sword up so that it was resting on his shoulders, "I wasn't really asking." Twine shot forward so quickly that Riku barely had time to take action. He threw himself down flat against the ground on top of Sora, narrowly avoiding the steel of the sword, and then moved Sora to the crotch of his arm. He stood, and then started running. He really did want to fight Twine, more than anything else right now, but he couldn't at the moment. He'd given Way To Dawn to his replication. He'd had to, for the plan he'd envisioned to work. The plan was going horribly wrong though. He hadn't expected that any of this was going to happen. He hadn't expected that Twine was going to figure out what they were doing. He hadn't expected that he was actually going to need Way To Dawn. He hadn't expected that such a terrible thing was going to happen to Sora.

Now he was in big trouble. Since he'd given Way To Dawn to his replication, that meant that it was going to stay with the replication until the replication gave it back to him. He was sure that the other Riku was bound to get there in a short while, but a lot could happen in that time. Riku was weaponless, defenseless against Twine's wrath, and he was sure that Twine wouldn't hesitate in allowing him to share the same fate as Sora.

As Riku ran, he heard Twine's fast paced footsteps behind him, and he knew that it was only a matter of time before Twine caught up with him. He would have run faster, but with Sora tucked under his arm the way he was, it was hard to run, and he was constantly stumbling. Part of Riku told him to put Sora down, that there was nothing more he could do for him, but he couldn't let himself do that. Whether Sora was dead or alive, Riku couldn't bring himself to leave Sora there while he fled. It was strange though. He felt compelled to try and protect Sora, even though he knew there was nothing left to protect. It was probably on account of the fact that he really hadn't come to terms with the fact that Sora was really gone. He couldn't wrap his mind around it. It had happened so quickly and unexpectedly that he just couldn't believe it.

Now Riku came to the far end of the plaza. He gave a quick glance to the left, but he didn't want to go that way. It would mean leaving the area, and that wasn't something he wanted to do. He had to stay within the plaza until his replication got there with Way To Dawn, so instead of going to the left, he made a sharp turn to the right. This wasn't the best of moves though, as it seemed to put him in range for one of Twine's attacks. He gave a cry as a searing pain tore through his back, and he realized that he'd been hit. He staggered, lost his footing, and fell to the ground. He quickly moved himself onto his back, and to his horror, Twine was right there, his sword held above Riku's head.

"Goodbye," Twine said coldly, and the sword started coming down. Riku put his hand up to try and shield himself, but he knew it was a vain attempt against the unavoidable pain he was about to feel.

* * *

A few minutes before this, Kairi and the replication were running as fast as they could across the lower story of the Hall Of Empty Melodies. (A/N: For those of you who aren't complete geeks that memorize every location in the game /yeah, I'm one of them --U/ this is the place where you fight Xigbar in KH2.) Riku's plan had failed, and they knew that something terrible was going to happen if they didn't get back to Riku soon.

"Kairi," Riku called over his shoulder. "Come on. We have to get back to the main plaza."

"I know. I know," Kairi panted, trying to force herself to catch up with Riku. They'd been running all over the place for the last 10 minutes, and she was having a hard time keeping up. "Just go ahead. Get Way To Dawn back to Riku and I'll catch up." At this Riku stopped, and waited as Kairi caught up to him. "No, don't wait for me," Kairi said, surprised that Riku had stopped. "I'll just slow you down. You have to get back to Riku."

Riku gave a small smile and said, "Sorry. I can't do that. You were there when Riku gave me my orders. 'Don't let her out of your sight' were his exact words."

"Well, yeah, but don't you think he'd understand? You could tell him I let you go."

"No," Riku said, shaking his head. "You don't know how angry he'd be if I showed up without you. _I _do. I have his memories, and let me tell you, it really wouldn't be pretty if I left you here."

"Well…then come on." Kairi took a hold of Riku's wrist and tugged him forward. They didn't have any time to waste. They ran until they got to the Crooked Ascension, the pathway that eventually lead to a mechanism that resembled a large elevator. Each of them felt the other's unease as they both hesitated in front of the pathway. This had been the place where the plan had started to go downhill. This was where Twine had discovered everything.

Before, back when they'd still been trying to lure Twine away from Sora, they'd run to the elevator thinking that it would buy them some time. They thought that they could lose him once they got to the top floor, and then find somewhere to hide for a while. This hadn't even come near working though. When the elevator doors had opened to let them back out, Twine had been standing right there. There had been no time to react.

Twine had reached out and grabbed Riku by the wrist, pulling him forward, and had been about to make some kind of demand, when he stopped. A look of pure anger had come over his face, and with a harsh toss he'd shoved Riku to the ground.

"You think you can fool me with this?" he'd growled. "You really are all fools." He truly had been about to do something to them. He had been about to do something _terrible_ to them, but he seemed to change his mind midway of lifting up his sword. He opened a dark portal behind him, stepped back, and was gone.

As Kairi and the replication stepped into the elevator before them, they each knew exactly where Twine had gone. Once the elevator doors opened again, it would be easy to get to him, to get to Riku. Soon the elevator's doors did open, and when they did Riku and Kairi were on the move again. All they had to do was clear the large metallic-looking area, cross the glowing bridge of light, and finally, finally make it through the alleyway into the district where Riku was.

Once they passed these obstacles, the sight they saw was horrible.

Riku was on the ground, Twine hovering over him with his sword only inches away from him. They saw Sora laying a few feet away from Riku, but neither of them new the terrible fate that had befallen him. They thought that he was simply unconscious.

It was the replication that finally shouted out, "_Riku_."

Both Riku and Twine looked up to see the replication summoning Way To Dawn and waving it above his head.

"Finally," Riku thought, glad for the interruption. If it hadn't been for this diversion, he'd probably be dead right know. While Twine was distracted, Riku took the opportunity to kick Twine's legs from underneath him. He then jumped up and started running towards his replication, shouting, "Pass it." The replication nodded and tossed Way To Dawn to Riku as hard as he could. It wasn't a moment to soon either. Twine had quickly recovered from his fall and was in hot pursuit of Riku. Riku spun around just in time to block Twine's swift downward thrust.

"Riku," Kairi said, her voice worried as she spoke to the replication, "you've got to go get Sora out of there. He's going to end up getting killed."

"I know," Riku replied. "Just hold on a minute." He'd been thinking the same thing as Kairi, but he needed to wait for Riku to carry the battle a little further away from Sora, so that he would have a little more space to get to him. It was strange though. As Riku eyed Sora's motionless form, he felt that something was wrong. He couldn't put his finger on it, but something didn't seem quite right. He brushed these thoughts aside, however, since Twine gave an unexpected swerve, and this caused the fight to finally start moving more towards the left, away from where Sora was.

"Riku, _go_." Kairi gave Riku a small shove as she too saw the opening.

"Okay," Riku said, nodding and rushing over to Sora's side. Once he got to Sora he didn't even bother trying to rouse him. He merely moved his arms underneath Sora to lift him, and then he gave a gasp. It was here that Riku realized the awful truth about Sora.

"He's…dead," Riku thought, sullenly. Sora's skin was pale and cold, and he'd stopped breathing. There was no doubt in his mind that Sora was dead. A strange feeling came over Riku as this realization hit him. It wasn't exactly sadness. He was Riku's replication, not truly Riku himself. The grief wasn't his to feel; but seeing this boy dead in front of him made him know exactly how Riku would feel when all of this was over.

"It's going to tear him apart," he thought sadly. "And Kairi…" As he thought of Kairi, he stole a look back at her, meeting her anxious gaze. She was waiting for him to bring Sora back safe and sound, unaware of what had happened. He wished it could stay that way forever, with her not knowing, with her not ever finding out, but he knew it was impossible.

Riku sighed and stood, Sora clutched in his grasp, and started walking back over to where Kairi was. The moment she saw Sora, Kairi knew something was wrong.

"Sora," she gasped, her hands flying over her mouth. She fell to her knees as Riku set Sora down on the ground in front of her.

"Kairi," he said softly. "He's…he's not…" but as she laid a hand on Sora's cheek, he decided that it might be better for her to find out on her own.

"Sora," she whispered, her voice shaking. She seemed to be trying to call out to him, and when he didn't give a response, she tried again. "Sora." He still didn't answer, and she knew she was only lying to herself when she told herself that he would open his eyes if she tried hard enough. She looked up at Riku with tears streaming down her face. "This isn't a dream, is it?" she asked, hardly able to speak from crying.

"I wish I could say it was," Riku replied, looking down at her with sad eyes, "but it's not."

"I…know," Kairi said, giving a small snuffle. She looked Sora in the face, and this seemed to be the thing that sent her over the edge. All of a sudden she was sobbing, burrowing her face in her hands like she couldn't bear to even look at Sora, and Riku wouldn't have blamed her if this were the case. He moved next to her and laid his arm across her shoulders.

"I'm so sorry," he whispered softly.

"I…I…loved him," she sobbed. "I loved him…so much…"

"I know. I know," Riku said, squeezing her shoulder in a comforting manner.

"I don't know what I'm going to do anymore," she whispered, her voice a high-pitched whine. "How are we even going to tell everyone?"

Riku hadn't thought of that. Once again, he was only Riku's replication, but he knew that it would be hard for both Riku and Kairi to tell everyone on their island that Sora was actually gone.

"Hey, you'll get through this," Riku finally said. "It'll be okay."

Kairi continued to cry, and didn't respond, but Riku hadn't expected her to anyway, and didn't press for an answer. Quite a few moments passed, in which Kairi cried harder than she ever had in her life.

"I don't want to believe it," she said quietly, deaf to the clang of weapons ahead of her. "I just want it all to go away."

"I know," Riku said softly. "But it would be better for you if you tried to accept it. You know?" This garnered a notably louder sob from Kairi, and it made Riku feel terrible. He'd only been trying to give her some good advice. "I'm sorry," Riku said quickly. "I didn't mean it like that. I mean…I was just…"

"No," Kairi said, interrupting him. "I know. You were…just trying to help."

"Yeah," Riku replied, resigning to be silent and just leave her to let everything out.

Kairi parted her fingers a bit to look down at Sora. He was still there. He was still dead. Every time she looked at him she felt her whole world being ripped from her, and right now she just wanted to look away, but at the same time she didn't. She wanted to see him. She wanted to look at him and remember how happy he had always made her whenever he was near, but the happiness wouldn't come. The only thing she was aware of right now was how rigid and lifeless he looked. He wasn't breathing. He wasn't moving at all. When she finally did think of the joy he had brought her, it only made her sadder, because she knew she would never feel that sort of joy again.

"I wish I could see him again," she whispered, finally bringing her hands down from her face. She decided she would look at him for as long as she could. She reached out for his hand and clutched it in her own. "The last thing I said to him wasn't really…good."

"Did you have an argument with him?" Riku asked, careful not to sound like she _had_ to answer him.

"No," Kairi said, and she actually smiled. "We weren't arguing. What I said wasn't bad. It just wasn't good either."

"Well, what did you say?"

"I said…'bye.'"

"You said 'bye?'" Riku asked, surprised that it hadn't been a little worse than that. "There's nothing wrong with that."

"Yes. I told you it wasn't bad. It just wasn't good. I would have liked it to be something more…you know…meaningful. Something like…"

It was here that Sora gave a cough. It was small, and it was dry, but it was enough to halt the conversation, and bring all attention to him. Kairi yanked herself from Riku's grasp, moving so that her face was only inches away from Sora's.

"Sora," she whispered, touching his face. She got louder. "Sora, can you hear me?" She turned to Riku, the flow of tears having stopped with her surprise. "Tell me I didn't just imagine that."

"No," Riku replied, his expression just as astonished as hers was. "He…He coughed."

She twisted back around to Sora and placed her fingers at his neck. After feeling around for a bit she shook her head and then moved her ear to his chest.

"Riku," she shouted excitedly. She looked at Riku with such shinning hope in her eyes that he knew what she was going to say before she even said it. "A heartbeat. I found a _heartbeat_."

"But he's not breathing," Riku said, his voice urgent as he moved next to Kairi to look down at Sora.

Kairi didn't answer Riku. She merely moved her hand underneath Sora's neck, plugged his nose, and pressed her mouth over his. She then began to blow, doing the thing that all the children on Destiny Islands were taught to do at a young age.

What with water being included in living on an island, the adults living on Destiny Islands had wanted to make sure that their children were safe. In case any of the children ever wandered down into the water with no adults around, all of the children had been taught how to swim, and what to do if anyone ever had a "drowning incident." All three of them, Sora, Riku, and Kairi, knew what to do if anyone ever stopped breathing, and Kairi was confident that she could get Sora to take a breath.

"Come on Sora," she thought. "Come on…"

Kairi gave one more breath into Sora, and finally, Sora gave a cough, and then a gasp, and then another cough. After a few moments of harsh breathing, he opened his eyes.

"Sora," Kairi whispered. Tears started welling up in her eyes again. "You're…you're alright." Just as soon as she'd said it though, Sora gave a small groan and his eyes slipped closed. "_Sora_," she gasped, afraid that she'd lost him again.

"It's okay," Riku said quickly, bringing his hand up to her shoulder. "He's just exhausted. He'll be okay." And Kairi saw that it was true, as Sora's chest continued to rise and fall with his breathing. She let out a sigh.

"I was so worried," she whispered, getting onto her knees. She moved Sora's head onto her lap and looked up at the replication. "We have to let Riku know." At this, the replication shook his head.

"We can't tell him right now," he said. "Not when he's in the middle of fighting."

"But it's because he thinks Sora's dead that he's fighting in the first place."

"Um…Kairi, I think he would still be fighting even if he didn't think Sora was dead." The replication knew for a fact that Riku hadn't taken lightly at all to Twine kidnapping Sora, and that Riku would still want to pick a fight with Twine even if he hadn't tried to kill Sora.

"Oh. Well…okay, you're probably right about that, but you still have to tell him. It must be killing him on the inside." She looked down at Sora, laying her hand on his face. "I know what he's thinking. He probably thinks it's his fault." She stopped to feel his forehead. "He thinks he's the reason his best friend's dead. You have to take that away from him. Otherwise, he won't be able to fight the way he usually does."

There were a few moments of silence, before the replication said, "You really want him to know, don't you?"

"He has to," Kairi said, nodding.

"Okay," the replication replied, standing. "Just stay here, and I'll be right back."

"You can probably just call him," Kairi called after him, as the replication started towards the head of the alleyway.

The replication gave a small wave to show that he'd heard, and Kairi turned to look at Sora. It was here that she burst into tears. It couldn't have been more than ten minutes that she'd thought he was dead. Even so, they had been the worst ten minutes of her life, and now that they were over, she couldn't help but feel overcome with happiness. Sora wasn't dead. He was alive, and it was the best news she could have ever received.

* * *

They swung at each other, their swords' shrill clang ringing forward. There was a moment of silence, each of them straining to break the other's guard, before they broke apart, only to once again charge at each other. The only thing Riku was aware of was the total and complete anger that he felt. His anger was really the only thing keeping him going. If it hadn't been for how angry he felt, he was sure that he would be on the floor by now.

He was tired, in every possible way to be tired. Riku wasn't about to give up though. There was no way he would ever let Twine get away with what he'd done. Twine had killed Sora, and that was one of the worst things he could have possibly done. So Riku fought, and it wasn't only to try and avenge Sora, but to protect Kairi as well. There would already be enough heartache over the loss of Sora. He didn't want to lose Kairi too, and he knew this would end up happening if he let himself lose here. So he fought, and fought.

He didn't seem to be getting anywhere, however, since he and Twine appeared to be evenly matched. That was already bad enough, but Riku had a feeling that Twine wasn't even going his hardest on him, and that was worse. It meant that Twine could get stronger at any time he chose, and that he was merely toying with Riku, trying to tire him out. Riku didn't think he could handle a stronger Twine. He could hardly handle Twine as it was.

"This will have to end soon," Riku thought. "It's going on too long." In truth, Riku wasn't looking forward to the end of the battle. He wanted it to come, but at the same time he didn't. With the end of the battle would come having to accept that he was never going to see Sora again. He would have to go through the pain of regret, the pain of guilt, and he really didn't want to have to do that. Since he was in the middle of fighting for his life, he tossed these thoughts aside. He would have plenty of time to think about them later.

As Riku moved to counter one of Twine's attacks, something unexpected happened. He thought that he was finally going get in one of his first hits of the fight, but it wasn't so. Twine had baited him with the opening, so that he could in turn lash out at him. This wasn't at all unexpected. Riku had quite a few wounds from this battle, while Twine had virtually none, so more had been expected to come. It was unexpected, however, when Twine literally hauled out and punched Riku. It was so swift and quick that Riku hardly knew what had happened until he'd already hit the ground.

"You're starting to get annoying," Twine growled, sounding fed up with the whole thing. Riku clenched his fist. That was it.

"Damn you," he hissed. Then he said it again, louder and fiercer, practically screaming. "_Damn _you. How could you even have the nerve to _say_ that?" He would owe Kairi 900 munny later (450 for each time he'd cursed) but at the moment, he didn't care. He stood and looked at Twine with vicious eyes. "You've taken Sora away from us. _All_ of us," he shouted. He couldn't help but think of all the friends Sora had made across the worlds. "Don't you know how many people are connected to him? How many people care about him?" That was the thing. Twine did know. He knew exactly how many friends Sora had, exactly how many people he would be missed by. He didn't care though. He didn't care the slightest bit. "Why don't you feel anything? Da…" Riku stopped himself before he owed Kairi even more munny. He started again. "You don't feel anything. _Why_?"

A nasty smirk came to Twine's face, and he even gave a small laugh. He took a step towards Riku, and Riku took a step back.

"Have you forgotten? I'm a nobody," Twine said. The expression on his face as he said this was vague and empty, having no definite emotion. It was the same expression that Riku had seen from Xemnas not too long ago. "I don't feel, or at least I don't feel in the same way that you do." Twine kept getting closer and Riku kept backing away, Way To Dawn ready at his side in case Twine tried something sneaky. "I can do whatever I want without any remorse. I can do _anything_, without even thinking about how it will affect the person I'm doing it to. I could kick a puppy, I could kill a man, and I could even burn down an entire village, and it wouldn't phase me one bit." Here, the smirk came back. "And that's why I was able to kill the brat so easily."

Something within Riku snapped, for obvious reasons, and the only thing that kept him from charging forward was the fact that he heard his own voice, as loudly and clearly as if he'd actually been talking. He looked to the head of the alleyway that lead to the Brink Of Despair where the voice had come from, and saw his replication.

"Oh yeah," Riku thought. He hadn't exactly forgotten about his replication. It had just taken him a few seconds to register that it _was_ his replication. He hadn't expected him to show up. What he was doing was more than a little important, and the replication should have known better than to try to engage him. After hearing what his replication had to say, however, Riku changed his mind about this.

"Riku, he's all right," the replication shouted. "Sora's _alive_."

Riku gave a small gasp. At first he was afraid that he'd heard wrong, but in the end he decided that this was the only thing that would have been important enough for the replication to come and tell him about.

"What?" Twine hissed, spinning around to face the replication, the anger in his voice completely contrary to the nuance of his "speech" about not feeling. He furrowed his brows in thought for just a moment before saying, "He would have to have a very strong heart to survive a spell of death. He must really be the Key Blade Master." Riku hardly heard Twine's words for how much awe he was in. "However, that doesn't mean I can't kill him with my bare hands." This, Riku heard, and he wasn't going to let it happen.

As Twine broke into a run across the plaza, Riku ran after him as fast as he could. His replication stepped into a defensive stance in front of Sora and Kairi, but Riku knew that this wouldn't be enough to stop Twine. He would need to do something quickly. Riku tried to get ahead of Twine, but when Twine made it halfway across the plaza and Riku still hadn't caught up with him, Riku did the first thing that came to mind. He dismissed Way To Dawn and sprang forward, closing his arms around Twine's waste and pulling him to the ground.

"Wretch," Twine shouted angrily, striking back with his elbow. He managed to hit Riku in the face, but Riku didn't dare let his grip falter.

"Run," he screamed out. "Take them and _go_." Riku heard the sound of his replication's footsteps as he ran to, no doubt, gather Sora and Kairi and get out of there.

"Get _off_," Twine hissed. He twisted around and used the full of his strength to toss Riku off of him. As Twine stood up though, Riku quickly recovered and summoned Way To Dawn. He made to swing at Twine's back while he wasn't looking, but Twine was smarter than that. Riku ended up clashing with Twine's sword, and that was okay for the moment. He just needed to keep Twine busy until Sora and Kairi were out of harm's way. He would concentrate on trying to beat Twine later.

Now Riku's replication passed carrying Sora in his arms, Kairi hastily following next to him, and Twine broke apart from Riku to lash out at them. As Twine ran forward, Riku held his arms out to quickly cast a Dark Shield spell. A wall of white light appeared in front of Twine, blocking him from going any further. Twine was quick to rip through it with his sword, and Riku knew that this wouldn't be like any of the other times that he'd used Dark Shield.

"Great," Riku thought, sending another shield to block Twine's way. "He shouldn't be able to do that." Riku was coming to realize just how much strain the replication spell had really put on him. Normally, nothing, not even the Key Blade, could break through one of his dark shields. Now though, one swipe of Twine's sword was enough to destroy one, but Riku wasn't going to let that stop him. His magic was strong enough to make the Dark Shields, and as long as it was at least strong enough to do that, he wasn't going to stop.

He looked over to where Sora and Kairi were, and as soon as he saw that they were both gone from the district, he finally let the shields fall. There was a bitter silence between the two left in the district. Twine didn't make a move, though the way he gripped the hilt of his sword let Riku know that he was far more than a little angry.

"So this is what you've forced it to come to," Twine said, his voice deceptively calm. He turned to look at Riku. "It was supposed to be Sora that died, but I guess once I kill you it'll be compensation enough."

Riku opened his mouth to respond, but Twine shot over to him so quickly that Riku barely had time to lift his Key Blade up and block. Twine was faster than before, much faster. He was also stronger, as Riku was unable to hold Twine back for more than a couple seconds before having to break away. Riku tried again, looking for a vulnerable spot to strike, but when he found none he ended up clashing swords again. Before he could break away again, Twine pushed him away forcefully, and then cast a spell that Riku didn't think he knew at first.

The words Twine spoke to initiate the spell were different, but the stream of lightning that flew from the palm of his hand was definitely some kind of thunder spell. Riku tried to avoid the attack, but it was too quick to dodge. The lightning hit him full in the chest, and it hurt. It hurt a lot. The lightning didn't stop after a couple seconds as Riku expected. It just kept coming and coming, and he didn't know how much of it he could take. Just as Riku was starting to give up hope that he would make it out of there alive, he suddenly remembered something that he had once been told.

_If you're ever stuck in any kind of thunder spell, all you have to do is cast a blizzard spell. You know what happens when water touches lightning, right?_

Riku couldn't remember who had taught it to him, (though he had a feeling it must have been Naminé, since it had been her voice that said it in his mind) but at the moment, he didn't care. If it was true, it might just save his life.

He did what he could to bring his Key Blade up in front of him, and then shouted out, "**Blizzard**." Barrages of ice spouted from the tip of his Key Blade, and as soon as the ice touched Twine, Riku heard an electric, jolting noise, and the lightning surrounding him fell away. As the magic collapsed, there came a cracking jolt that shoved Riku back, almost smacking him against the wall behind him. The force of it landed him on the ground.

Dazed and shaken, Riku managed to make his way back to his feet. As he looked up at Twine, Riku had to suppress a gasp. Twine was looking at him with untapped hatred, full in its bloom. For a moment, Riku was scared out of his mind. He knew everything that Twine was thinking, felt all of the hatred that Twine was aiming at him. He felt like he wanted to run, like he wanted to escape this place before he got himself killed. The feeling only came for a moment though, and then it was gone. He knew that he had to stay there to finish what had been started, he knew that he didn't care that Twine hated him, and he knew, with all certainty, that he would never be scared of Twine.

He looked at Twine without showing anything of what he had just felt, and asked, "Why do you want Way To Dawn?" It was a question that had been pestering him ever since this whole ordeal started. He had thought about it and thought about it, but he hadn't been able to come up with any real reason why Twine could possibly want Way To Dawn.

Twine didn't answer Riku immediately. It seemed like he was measuring whether or not he should tell Riku the reason. He then gave a small laugh.

"I don't think you want to know," he said, his voice slightly mocking. He dismissed his sword. "But if you insist, okay."

A sudden gust formed around the district. Twine lifted his arms to the sky and sparks assimilated in his grasp. Lights danced all around, and Riku felt a sense of tense discomfort that he really didn't like. As Twine started chanting words under his breath, Riku was starting to wonder if he was going to regret ever having asked Twine the question. It was too late to reconsider though. Twine finally said the last word of his spell with a firm shout, and a bright light shone throughout the area. The light was so bright that Riku had to shield his eyes with his hands. When he opened his eyes again, he gave a sharp gasp.

Key Blades of every size, shape, and color surrounded Twine. From what Riku could see, there had to be at least twenty or twenty-five. Each of them was different. Each of them looked powerful. He definitely regretted asking that question. Among the many Key Blades, Riku spied the silver glint of the Key Blade, Sora's Key Blade.

"If you haven't already figured it out, I collect Key Blades," Twine said, the Key Blades drifting at his sides. Riku didn't mention the fact that this thought hadn't ever crossed his mind. "This is my collection."

"And…how did you get them all?" Riku asked, his voice uncertain. He had a feeling he already knew the answer though.

Twine could tell that Riku already knew the answer as well, as an all-knowing smile came to his face as he said, "I get them from various key bearers across the worlds." The Key Blade glided smoothly into his grasp as he said it. "Most of them aren't very willing to hand over their Key Blades, as you already know. I sometimes had to convince them a little. Still, I always ended up with what I wanted." Here the smile fell away. "And yet, you're still standing there, alive. Sora's alive as well, and I still don't have my Key Blade."

"It's _not_ your Key Blade," Riku screamed, annoyed. "And you still haven't told me why you want it."

"Isn't it obvious?" Twine asked, looking at Riku like he was an idiot. "Why do you think I brought out my collection?"

"No," Riku said, shaking his head. "That's not what I want to know. I want to know why you want _my_ Key Blade. Why do you want Way To Dawn in particular? What's so special about it that would make you go through so much trouble just to get it?"

"Ah," Twine replied, his voice pensive, like he was mulling over what Riku had just said. He let the Key Blade slide out of his hand to float with the others around him, and then two different Key Blades drifted into both of his hands. The one in his right hand was a mellow blue, and at its tip, the part that stuck out to make it look like a key, were craggy shards of ice. The one in his left hand was bright yellow, and its tip held a golden thunderbolt.

He held up the blue Key Blade and said, "This Key Blade allows me to control ice. Its bearer was a master of Blizzard Magic." He then held up the yellow one and said, "You've already experienced the power that this one can give me. Its bearer was a master of Thunder Magic." Twine then pointed to Riku's Key Blade and said, "And your Key Blade. It could give me unimaginable power. Paired with the Key Blade it would complete my collection." Here he gave a small laugh. "And to think you barely even know what it _does_." As he said the last word, Twine tossed his arms forward, like he was throwing something heavy. This was when the onslaught began.

Every single one of the Key Blades came soaring in Riku's direction. He brought his Key Blade up to block the nearest one coming towards him, a green one with a pine tree for a tip, but even as he blocked it a platinum colored Key Blade with an array of stars at its tip tore past his arm, leaving a nasty scratch. Many other Key Blades attacked him at the same time, which was how Riku knew he was in trouble. While he could block one or two Key Blades, he wasn't going to be able to block them all when five or six came flying at him at the same time.

"I've got to do something," he thought, as yet another Key Blade lashed at his legs. This was the problem though. He couldn't do anything. He couldn't dodge all of the Key Blades and he couldn't stop them from coming. It felt like a hopeless situation. However, when he thought about what would happen to Sora and Kairi if Twine really did manage to beat him, it sent a new fire into him. He wasn't going to let Twine destroy the ones most important to him.

With new resolve, Riku pulled his Key Blade up to block the nearest of Twine's Key Blades, and then rushed forward to try and make his way through the barrage and over to Twine. It was just like before though. He still couldn't dodge well enough to keep from taking heaps of damage.

"I need another Key Blade," he thought, dodging the attack of a peculiar looking Key Blade that had a spherical bubble at its tip. "I can't do this with just one." As if sensing Riku's thoughts, the Key Blade was the next one to shove forward and attack him. Riku acted without even thinking. His fingers shot out and curled around the Key Blade's hilt, and he pulled it forward. There was a sound like breaking glass, and through the flying Key Blades Riku saw Twine give a wince.

The Key Blade was his now. There was no force trying to tug it away from him or take it back. It was his. It made him feel good that the Key Blade trusted him this much.

There wasn't all that much time to think about what had happened, so Riku tossed his thoughts to the side for the moment and twisted to the left to swat at a Key Blade that was whizzing towards him. To Riku's surprise, when the Key Blade hit the ground, it stayed there. It didn't jump back up to join the rest of the Key Blades around it. Riku thought that this was strange, but thought that maybe it must have had something to do with Twine running out of magic. As he blocked another Key Blade at his front, Riku noticed that the same thing happened here. The Key Blade fell to the ground and then remained there, unmoving.

Riku had no idea why this was happening. Then it dawned on him. He was using the Key Blade Master's Key Blade. Key Blades had a strange way of "knowing" things, and if there was one thing they knew, it was that if the Master Key Blade knocked them down, they stayed down.

A small grin came to Riku's face. As he slashed through the waves of Key Blades, he knew that it would take a while to knock them all down. Whatever it took though, he knew that he would eventually make it to Twine, and when he did, he wouldn't make any of the mistakes he'd made before, because he knew now that he couldn't afford to make any. If he let Twine beat him, Twine would destroy everything precious to him, and he wasn't just thinking of Sora and Kairi. Twine would literally destroy everything and everyone that he knew, and Riku wasn't going to let that happen.

* * *

A few minutes before this, Kairi and Riku's replication were running to make it to the Gummi Teleportation Site. The last time the real Riku and Kairi had been there they had left quite a few heartless without destroying them, so some did appear as the pair made their dash to the Gummi Ship. Fortunately, most of the heartless were either Shadows or, on a few occasions, Neo Shadows, and these things were small enough for Kairi to handle with her Key Blade.

"We're almost there," Riku shouted over to Kairi. She was taking care of a heartless a little ways from him. "Just leave them."

She finished off the Shadow she was working on before looking up and nodding. As she ran over to Riku though, he suddenly gave a small gasp and stumbled a bit.

"Hey, are you all…" she started, but then he fell to his knees. "What's wrong?" she shouted, rushing over to him and placing a hand on his shoulder.

"Listen," Riku grunted, looking Kairi in the eyes. "The spell keeping me here is about to collapse any minute. It usually lasts three days, but Riku's magic hasn't matured enough to cast the full spell." He laid Sora against Kairi's chest and she reached out to grab him, and it was here that it dawned on her what Riku was trying to tell her.

"Wait. Does this mean that _I_ have to get Sora to the Gummi Ship?" she asked, her voice worried.

"Yes," Riku replied. "I'm really sorry, but I won't be able to make it all the way to the Gummi Ship. I'm already starting to disappear." He lifted his right hand up and Kairi gasped. His hand was clear, and transparent.

"You're going to disappear?" Kairi asked. "You're just going to disappear and that'll be it?"

"Well, not in the way that you think. I won't completely disappear. I'll just go back to Riku," the replication explained. "If he ever decides to cast another replication spell, it'll be me that takes the form of whoever he replicates."

"Oh. So you won't disappear?"

"No. Now go, before more heartless show up." Kairi looked down at Sora and then back up at Riku.

"Okay," she said. She hauled Sora's arm onto her shoulders and wrapped her arm around his waist to pull him up. He wasn't all that heavy, but he wasn't all that light either. Before turning to drag Sora around the corner, she looked down at Riku and said, "Good luck with…whatever happens."

"You too," Riku replied, giving a small laugh.

They nodded to each other, and Kairi began to pull Sora along. By the time she had dragged Sora to the Gummi Teleportation Site, the replication had already disappeared in a burst of light.

* * *

Riku was making amazing progress now that he had the Key Blade. Each time one of Twine's Key Blades came towards him, all he had to do was knock it down with the Key Blade, and that Key Blade wouldn't come back at him anymore. His progress was starting to show too, as Twine was starting to run out of Key Blades. After Riku swatted his next Key Blade away, he noticed something happening with the remaining ones. He hadn't realized it before, but there were only nine left.

These nine went to surround Twine, and Riku's first thought was, "He's giving up?" He knew that this most likely wasn't the case though, and so he didn't let his guard fall. It was a good thing he didn't, because the next thing Twine did was summon his sword. Riku normally would have been troubled by the fact that Twine had ten weapons to use against him and he only had two, but the fact that he had just won against such a large number of Key Blades had given him a confidence boost. He wasn't so confident, however, that he would do something foolhardy like trying to make the first blow. He would wait for twine to do that, and it seemed that he would.

The Key Blades floated around him in a menacing fashion, and he lifted his sword straight out at his side. At first Riku was confused by this, but he realized just in time what Twine's intentions were. Twine hurled his sword forward, and Riku dived to the side just as Twine's sword came spiraling past. Not having any time to just sit there, Riku jumped to his feet to block Twine's downward thrust. There were a few moments of straining before Riku managed to push Twine away from him.

While Twine was off balance, Riku proceeded to throw a sideways thrust at Twine's left, but two of Twine's Key Blade quickly came up to try and stop him. He easily tore through them, and made it through to Twine. This one hit of course wasn't going to defeat Twine, and so Riku brought his Key Blades back to make another strike. Twine had recovered though, and blocked.

Riku knew that he wouldn't get anywhere just blocking and striking, so he brought his hand up and cast Dark Aura. This sent Twine flying across the district, but the remaining seven Key Blades stayed behind. Riku took this opportunity to try and get rid of them, and managed to take out four. Before he could take care of the last three, they flew back over to Twine, who was on his feet again. Twine looked angry, and Riku was surprised to find that he was actually starting to look tired.

"Am I winning?" Riku thought. He knew that Twine being a little bit tired wasn't going to win him the entire battle, but Twine really hadn't shown any signs of fatigue the whole time. If he was tired, it had to be a good thing.

As if reading each other's minds, they both sprang forward at the same time. Instead of aiming for Twine, Riku aimed to take down the Key Blades. Ducking down and swinging at the same time, Riku took out two, and when he sprang back up he took out the last one. All of the Key Blades were now gone. It was just Riku and Twine.

While he was in the momentum of the attack, Riku brought his Key Blades back down across Twine's chest. To his surprise, he actually drew blood, which didn't normally happen if he was using a Key Blade. It could have been because Twine had lost his Key Blades, what with them being the source of his magic, or it could have been because Riku was using two Key Blades instead of one. Whatever the reason was, Riku didn't care. He pulled back and then thrust his Key Blades forward. This time, dark mist poured forth, as was expected from defeating a nobody.

Riku stepped back, and Twine fell to his knees. He seemed genuinely surprised, and Riku didn't blame him. He himself was surprised that he'd actually been quick enough to do it. The next few seconds were occupied by an awkward silence that Riku didn't feel comfortable in. He kept feeling like something would happen, and that it would turn out that he actually hadn't defeated Twine.

To ward off the silence, Riku asked, "Why Way To Dawn? What made you want it this badly?"

More silence followed, and Riku was afraid for a moment that Twine really wasn't going to answer him. It wasn't something he needed to worry about though.

Twine did eventually answer, saying, "Way To Dawn is a special kind of Key Blade." His voice was oddly calm and level for a nobody that was about to be destroyed. "It contains the powers of darkness..."

"Oh," Riku said quietly, his voice grim. He'd had a feeling that Twine would say this, but that didn't make it any easier to accept.

"…and light," Twine added. At this Riku's eyes went wide with surprise.

"Light?" he choked out. He couldn't believe it. "_Light_?"

"Yes. Light. With such a powerful combination of light and darkness, it would have been the perfect Key Blade for my collection." Here, Twine stood, and this worried Riku, since he didn't seem to be heeding his wounds very much. "Unfortunately, I'm going to have to start over with my collection. None of these Key Blades are ever going to listen to me again. Not after being touched by the Key Blade." Twine gave a brief glance around the district, and the next thing he did took Riku completely by surprise.

Twine laid his hand on his chest, uttered something that Riku didn't understand, and then all of his wounds healed.

Riku gasped and took a step back. He had little to no energy left. Fighting Twine had taken everything out of him. Trying to fight him now would be impossible. He was going to lose.

Twine gave a cruel laugh, saying, "What? Are you scared?"

Riku couldn't help the terrified look on his face.

"He's going to kill me," he thought. "He's really going to…" Before Riku knew it, before he could make a move even, Twine's fingers were around his neck, and he was on the ground.

"And now I will take what's mine," Twine snarled, moving one of his knees onto Riku's chest and pinning his wrists down to the ground.

"Get _off_," Riku grunted, but he couldn't do anything. He was trapped.

Twine cast a spell, and Riku gave a scream. A searing pain went snaking up his arm, and Riku knew what was happening. It was the spell that would take Way To Dawn.

"**Reflect**," Riku cried, remembering what he had done before. Nothing happened. "**Re**_**flect**_," he tried again, a little firmer this time. Still, nothing happened. "Oh no," Riku thought, dismayed. He was out of magic, and Way To Dawn was growing farther and farther away from him. He started trying to tug his wrists out of Twine's grasp, but Twine was too strong for him. In a few seconds, he couldn't feel Way To Dawn anymore. It was Twine's.

"Perfect," Twine said, moving his hand over Way To Dawn. He dismissed it into his possession. "Now for the other one." The pain in Riku's right arm moved to his left arm, and Twine's spell began wear away at the Key Blade.

"Stop it," Riku shouted, desperately calling to his Key Blade. Twine didn't stop, and Way To Dawn didn't come to him.

"Just accept it," Twine said, an air of annoyance in his voice. "It's almost done anyway." As if on cue, the connection Riku felt with the Key Blade was severed. "Well," Twine smirked, his voice sly as he took the Key Blade from Riku's hand. "I guess this means I don't need you anymore."

Twine lifted the Key Blade up above Riku's chest, and the next few things happened so quickly that Riku barely had time to think. Twine thrust the Key Blade down and Riku gave one last, desperate call to Way To Dawn. It came. All astonishment aside, Riku held it up just in time to block Twine's attack.

"What?" Twine was obviously surprised. He removed his hand from Riku's other wrist to push down harder, which in turn gave Riku a free hand. He reached up to the Key Blade, and as soon as he felt its connection he quickly dismissed it. Riku didn't really understand how he'd done it, but he'd managed to reclaim both the Key Blades.

Outraged, Twine gave an angry cry and gasped hold of Riku's wrists. He pinned them to the ground above Riku's head and, holding them there with one hand, summoned his sword. He laid it against Riku's neck, and Riku closed his eyes. As Twine lifted his sword up, Riku thought for sure that these would be his last moments.

Riku was surprised at the large clang that came from his left and immediately opened his eyes. Twine had tossed his sword to the ground. Riku didn't know exactly why Twine had done this, but from what he could tell it had been out of frustration.

"What's the use?" Twine said, his voice bitter. "This is a waste of time."

"Wha…" Riku started.

"Even if you were dead your Key Blade still wouldn't listen to me," Twine interrupted, his voice crude. He released Riku's hands. "There's no point in killing you." He stood and turned his back on Riku, taking a few paces forward before crossing his arms and sighing.

Riku sat up, confused.

"What do you mean?" he asked, not quite ready to stand yet.

Without looking back at Riku, Twine said, "It seems you're one of the few key bearers whose Key Blade I can't take. It's your heart. It's too strong. I can't cast the spell to take the Key Blade and if I kill you your Key Blade dies with you."

"Wait," Riku said, finally making his way to this feet. "Are you giving up?"

"Giving up?" Twine scoffed, turning to face Riku. "Look. I'm actually letting you live. I hardly ever let anyone live after doing any of the things you've done today. I'd be grateful if I were you." When Riku stared at him with a blank expression, Twine said, "Just think of it as me saying never mind."

"What?" Riku asked. "Never mind? I can't believe you just _said _that. You just put my best friend through hell, and all you have to say is never _mind_?" he shouted angrily.

"Do you want me to say I'm sorry or something? Because I'm not," Twine replied, his voice annoyed. "I can change my mind, you know."

Riku didn't say anything for a few seconds.

"Just leave," he finally said, his voice cold. It was the only thing he could think to say.

"And who are you to tell me to leave?" Twine asked. Riku knew that he was only trying to be difficult.

"Get _out_ of here," he shouted, trying to sound angry but knowing that he only sounded exasperated and tired. "And if you ever bother us again, I'll make sure you regret it."

"Fine then," Twine replied. "You won't see me again, unless I find a way to get your Key Blade, that is." Riku wasn't quite satisfied with this answer, but he was still relieved to see a dark portal appearing behind Twine. "By the way," Twine added. "I just thought you'd like to know that you're the only one that's ever forced me to bring out my entire collection before."

Riku didn't know why Twine was telling him this. It could have been Twine's way of trying to say something remotely nice to him, but even if it was Riku didn't care.

"Just go," Riku said, not even trying to sound angry this time. Twine nodded, and turned to walk through the dark portal.

Riku was alone now. He waited for a few seconds just to make sure that Twine really had left and that he wasn't just hiding somewhere. Once he was thoroughly convinced that Twine was definitely gone, Riku let out the breath he'd been holding and collapsed onto his hands and knees.

"Finally," he breathed. He couldn't put into words how relieved he was. "_Finally_." He wanted to just lie there and fall asleep. Standing hardly crossed his mind until he thought of Sora and Kairi. Both of them were waiting for him back at the Gummi Ship, and he couldn't just leave them there. After a few more minutes of catching his breath, Riku pulled himself up to his knees. He looked to the alleyway leading to the Gummi Ship and let out a sigh. Normally, this path wouldn't have been anything hard or strenuous for him to pass at all. At the moment, however, he was so worn out that the short distance to the Gummi ship seemed like miles. Riku knew that he had to get past it though. He gave himself a few more moments of rest, and then he stood. He then began to stumble his way back to the Gummi Ship.

* * *

It was cold and lonely on the Gummi Ship. Kairi didn't like the feeling of no one else being there with her. All of the other times that she'd ever been on a Gummi Ship, there had been other people around. Now there was no one on the ship except for her and Sora, and Sora was in no condition to be any form of company at the moment.

Though not without difficulty, she had actually managed to drag him all the way to the Gummi Ship. She had laid him out on the floor and found all of Riku's blankets to pile on top of him. He was resting now, but she couldn't help but worry.

There was a weak, frail look to him that she wasn't used to seeing. She didn't think that she had ever seen him looking this weak. There was a rasp to his breathing, and the color hadn't completely returned to his cheeks. Overall, he was in bad shape.

"He's okay," she kept having to tell herself. "He's going to be all right." Even though she wasn't completely sure of this, she kept thinking it. It helped her not to worry too much about what had almost happened to Sora.

After moving her hands over Sora's blankets to smooth them out a little, Kairi stood and walked over to the front of the Gummi Ship, whose walls were made of glass. As she laid her hand on the glass, she took note of how much smoother and clearer Gummi Glass was than regular glass. It gave her a perfect view of the World That Never Was.

"I wonder how Riku's doing," she thought. "It's been a while since I left him." In truth, it had been about half an hour, and Kairi was starting to get worried. "Of course, I don't really know how long it would take to beat a guy like him." Kairi hadn't been in any major, tough battles before. Sora and Riku wouldn't let her. The only things she had ever fought were Shadows and Neo Shadows, so she had no real knowledge on how long it should have been taking Riku to finish off Twine. "I probably don't even need to worry," she thought. She turned from the glass and returned to Sora's side. "This is probably exactly how long it should be taking." This didn't keep Kairi from worrying though. She was actually very afraid.

It was the thought of Riku losing to Twine that scared her the most. Kairi didn't think she could handle losing Riku so close to almost losing Sora.

"What would happen if Riku really did lose?" she wondered aloud, her voice quiet. She already knew what would happen to Riku, and she didn't want to think about it. She didn't really want to think about what would happen to her and Sora either, but still she had to wonder what Twine's next move would be if he won against Riku. "Would he come for us?" Kairi thought, looking down at Sora. She could think of each time that Sora had protected her, but she knew that if Twine really did come after them, she wouldn't be anywhere near being able to protect him.

"Oh, I've got to stop worrying," she told herself. "If I just wait and be patient, Riku will…" Kairi was suddenly startled by a small chime sounding around the Gummi Ship. It was the tone signaling that someone had used the Gummi Teleportation Site. Kairi breathed a sigh of relief, though she wasn't without her worries. Part of her was certain that it had been Riku that boarded, but part of her was scared that it had been Twine, that he had somehow managed to find the place where they had set of the Teleportation Site, and that he was now on the ship.

Kairi reached underneath the blankets for Sora's hand and anxiously watched the small hatch across the room from them. The Teleportation Site was designed to teleport its user bellow decks, where there was a small ladder. Coming through the hatch was the only way to get into the cockpit, so she watched, and waited. The hatch gave a small click, and then it opened.

Kairi was so relieved to see that it was Riku that she could have cried. She jumped up to help him, since he seemed to be having some trouble lifting himself up from the hatch.

"Riku," she cried, overjoyed. "I'm so glad you're okay."

"Trust me," Riku replied. "I'm much happier that you're okay." And he was.

"I see," Kairi laughed, pulling him the rest of the way in. As the hatch closed behind Riku, the smile faded from Kairi's face. "Riku, you're hurt," she said, eyeing the cuts that lined his arms.

"I know," Riku sighed. "It was pretty rough out there."

"Why don't you just wait over there by Sora?" Kairi said, pointing to the back of the Gummi Ship where Sora was. "I'll go get the first aid kit."

"How is he?" Riku asked.

"Well, I think he's all right," Kairi replied, going to where Riku's tote bag was. "He's slept the whole time though."

Riku went to kneel next to Sora, and was glad to see him breathing. He noted that Sora's face was lightly flushed, and laid a hand on his forehead.

"How long has he had this fever?" he asked, as Kairi came up next to him.

"He's had it the whole time," she said, sitting next to him, the first aid kit in her hands. She didn't seem too worried. "But it's never risen." She set the first aid kit onto the floor. "Now give me your arm." They spent a few minutes in silence, Riku sitting still as Kairi tried to figure out how to use medical bandages and gauze. Much to the discomfort of Riku, she ended up just dabbing his wounds with some alcohol and using band-aids.

"Hey, Riku," Kairi said, her voice questioning as she finished tending to Riku's wounds.

"Yeah?"

"How did you beat Twine?"

Riku had been waiting for her to ask a question like this, and he really didn't want to answer it.

After a few moments of silence, Riku finally admitted, "Actually… I…didn't beat him."

"What?" Kairi asked, alarmed. "You didn't beat him?"

Riku explained to Kairi what had happened, about how Twine had left without actually being beaten.

"But Riku, what if he comes back?" Kairi asked. She sounded scared.

"I know," Riku said, laying a hand on her shoulder to try and comfort her. "I've been thinking about it, and, well, I don't think he's ever coming back."

"What? Why?"

"I guess it's just because there doesn't seem to be any point to coming back," Riku replied. "I mean, why would he go through of the trouble of doing all the things he did, and then just leave? What would be his motivation?"

"To lull you into a false sense of security?"

"No, Kairi, you need to understand. He really could have killed me out there. He didn't need to trick me or anything. If he was going to do anything to me, I think he would have just done it then."

"So…you don't think he's going to come back?" Kairi asked hopefully.

"I'm pretty sure he's not," Riku said, though he did remember what Twine had said about coming back if he found another way to get Way To Dawn. Twine had sounded doubtful when he'd said it though, so Riku hoped this meant he wouldn't find another way.

"Well, I hope he doesn't," Kairi said quietly. There was a long moment of silence.

"Hey Kairi," Riku said after a while. "Let's get out of here."

"It's 5:30 on our world," Kairi said, looking down at her watch. "It took us so long to get here that it would almost be twelve o'clock by the time we got back."

"We don't have to go straight there," Riku replied, standing. "We could find a world that's closer and spend the night there. I think Twilight Town's close."

"But Riku, don't you think we should be getting back home?" Kairi asked, also standing and following Riku to the dashboard.

"We've got some time to spare," Riku replied, typing something into the dashboard's keyboard. "Your parents don't get back until Monday, right? And mine don't really care that I'm gone, and the replication I told you about is taking care of Sora's parents. We could find a place to stay for tonight and then head out early in the morning. We'd get back at a reasonable time. What do you say?"

"Well," Kairi said, thinking, "it would give Sora more time to rest."

"Yeah," Riku agreed. "He probably does need a little time to recover." He suddenly pointed to a small screen above the keyboard. "Hey, the search says that Disney Castle's only a couple hours away."

"Really? It is?" Kairi asked.

"Yeah. I didn't know either, but it's right there. I'm sure they'd let us stay there for the night, especially with all that's happened."

"This is perfect," Kairi said happily. "They'll be able to call for a doctor for Sora, and you too, for that matter."

"What? Kairi, I don't need a…"

"Riku," Kairi said sharply, her arms crossed. "Don't try to pretend like this hasn't taken its toll on you."

"Well yeah, but that doesn't mean that…"

"Yes, it does," Kairi interrupted. "Riku, you're seeing a doctor even if I have to drag you up to one.

"Okay, okay," Riku finally said, going over to another part of the dashboard. "I'll make sure I see a doctor too." He began setting up the Gummi Ship to take them to Disney Castle.

"Good," Kairi said, uncrossing her arms. "I'll just leave you to this then."

"'kay," Riku answered, distractedly. He was having some trouble figuring out how to get the ship to take them where he wanted it to. He had had the same problem last time. He was grateful that Kairi was giving him some time alone to work things out.

Once the ship was flying smoothly and Riku was sure that it was taking them to the correct location, he turned to Kairi. She had gone over to Sora. He went over to her and plopped onto his knees next to her.

"Hey, what's wrong?" he asked her, seeing the frown on her face.

"Oh, it's nothing," Kairi said, looking up at Riku and brightening up a little. She looked back down at Sora. "I just wish he didn't have to sleep on the floor.

"He doesn't" Riku said, seeing the surprise light up in Kairi's face as he did. "There are beds in the back."

"There are beds? Wait. There's a _back_?"

"Of course," Riku laughed, standing. He went to the back wall of the cockpit and pushed a small button that Kairi hadn't noticed. It turned out that there had been a sliding door there the whole time, and when Riku touched the button the door slid aside to reveal a small stairway. "See? There're a whole lot of things back here. Why'd you think the ship was so big?"

"I thought it was all just machinery," Kairi replied, seeming a little embarrassed.

"Come have a look then," Riku said, beckoning her over.

She joined him in the wide doorway to find that the stairway led down to a long hallway, in which there were four doorways to the left, and four to the right. The doors seemed oddly normal, as they had knobs and hinges.

"Are all of these bedrooms?" Kairi asked.

"No. Some of them are just living rooms, and I know there has to be a bathroom back there somewhere. There are probably a couple of blank rooms too."

"Okay. So which one are we going to put Sora in?"

"Let me go check and find one that's a bedroom." Riku went down the stairs and opened the nearest door to the right. He found that it was only a large common, but the one to the left had a gray-sheeted bed in it. "Here's one," he called up to Kairi.

"Good," she called back. "You can get Sora down there, right?"

"Yeah, no problem," Riku replied, emerging from the stairway.

"Okay," Kairi said, nodding. Riku slipped his arms underneath Sora and lifted him, and then brought him into the bedroom to softly set him down on the bed.

"Kairi, you can go find a room if you want," Riku said, as Kairi pulled the covers up to Sora's chin. "I'll watch him."

"No, Riku," Kairi replied softly, looking up at Riku. "You don't have to do any more. You can rest now."

"But Kairi…"

"Riku," Kairi interrupted him. "You've done all the work here, and I hardly did anything. You deserve to rest. Now go. You find a room, and _I'll _watch him."

Riku was silent. He hadn't expected Kairi to say that.

"Are…are you sure?" he asked. He wanted to be sure before just leaving.

"Of course Riku," Kairi replied, taking a seat at the edge of Sora's bed. "Just go. I'll take care of everything.

Riku would have tried arguing with Kairi, but he knew that it would be pointless. Whether he stayed or left, she wasn't going to leave Sora.

"Okay," Riku sighed. Kairi must have been able to see how tired he was. He was glad for this. "Thanks."

"Sure," Kairi replied, as Riku turned for the door. Riku searched the rooms until he found another bedroom, and once he entered the room he collapsed onto the bed. He kicked his shoes off and closed his eyes. He was so tired that his worries seemed like distant dreams. He knew that he didn't have to worry about Twine, because it was impossible to use corridors on Gummi Ships, and where they were going there were more than enough protection spells to keep Twine away. The only worry on the very tip of Riku's mind was Sora, but he wasn't too worried about him.

"He'll pull through," Riku thought, pulling himself underneath the blankets. "His heart's too strong." He settled himself down and stared up at the ceiling. When he thought about all that had taken place in the past few hours, he almost couldn't believe that any of it had actually happened. Just that morning he'd been in his home, and now he was on a Gummi Ship headed for Disney Castle. It was strange when he thought about it.

"Well, at least it's all over," Riku whispered softly. He rolled over, and was lulled to sleep by the humming of the Gummi Ship.

**To Be Continued…**

So what did everyone think? It didn't end too abruptly did it? I didn't want to make Riku defeat Twine, because I wanted him to be like a danger looming in the background. Plus, I might think about writing a sequel if enough people seem interested enough. Sorry about the big wait for this chapter! I know it must have been annoying…sorry… The only thing left for me to write is the Epilogue, and that won't take too long! This is The Mangosity saying, rarely do you ever hear a cat sneeze, but when you do, it's the funniest thing in the world.

* * *


	6. And They Finally Make It Home

**Disclaimer: I do not own Kingdom Hearts.**

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* * *

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Kidnapped

"Hey, Riku," came a soft voice. "Wake up. We're almost there." For the moment, Riku ignored the voice. He was cozy and warm, and he did not want to wake up. "Come on, Riku. Don't make me go get a glass of water." Kairi began to shake Riku, and he had no choice but to open his eyes.

"Okay, okay," Riku groaned. "I'm up." He sat up and rubbed his eyes. "Is everything all right?"

"Yeah, for the most part," Kairi replied. "I've been awake watching Sora, and he's been asleep the whole time."

"How's he doing?"

"His fever's a little high, but other than that he's okay."

Riku nodded, and then asked, "How long has it been?"

"About an hour and a half."

"Wait, really? We can't possibly be there yet."

"Yeah, we've got a little while to go," Kairi told him. "I just wanted to make sure that you were good and ready once it was time to disembark." She gave a soft sigh. "We're going to have a lot of explaining to do."

"I'm sure we will," Riku agreed. He stood from the bed and gave his back a long stretch. "But as long as we get there I'll be happy." He stepped into his shoes and Kairi motioned for him to follow her.

"Come on," she said. "You can come look after Sora with me." She led him to the room where Sora was, and when Riku caught sight of Sora a small wave of guilt passed over him. It seemed that Sora hadn't budged since Riku last saw him. He lay on his back, his face flushed with fever, and he didn't appear very comfortable this way.

"Twine really hurt him out there," Kairi said, sitting at the edge of the bed. It was as if she had read Riku's mind.

"He'll be okay after he rests for a while," Riku replied, trying to sound reassuring. "It's just that one of the spells Twine cast was really meant to torture him, and then there was the…"

"Wait. Twine _tortured_ him?" Kairi asked, tearing her gaze from Sora to stare up at Riku.

"Well…yeah." Riku had never really thought of what Twine had done to Sora as being "torture" until he'd heard the word coming from his own mouth.

"Twine," Kairi growled, balling her hand into a fist. "Thinking about him just makes me so angry."

"Well, I can't say I don't feel the same way," Riku replied, taking a seat next to her at the edge of the bed. "But try not to be so mad. It doesn't really help anything, and it only makes you feel terrible."

"I guess so," she sighed. "I just really hope he's all right when he wakes up."

"I'm sure he will be. After a good sleep he'll be all healed up."

"I don't just mean his injuries," Kairi said, looking up at Riku. "I mean, well, his mind. Being kidnapped by Twine and hurt the way he was…it must have been a terrible experience for him."

"Oh," Riku replied. He thought for a moment. "He probably will be a little jumpy for a while, but he's been through things like this before."

"He's never been kidnapped before," Kairi pointed out.

"True." There was a moment of silence. "I guess we'll just have to wait and see."

The two talked a bit more about Sora until a small chime sounded around the Gummi Ship.

"That means we're almost there," Riku said, standing. Kairi, opting to stay with Sora, did not follow Riku as he went up to the cockpit to see to the ship' s landing. Looking out at the starry sky, Riku could just barely make out the world they were heading for. He looked to the controls and made sure that the ship would land itself once they got close enough to the castle, and then he headed back downstairs.

"Kairi, we'll be there in fifteen…" Riku started, but Kairi interrupted him.

"Riku, Sora just opened his eyes," Kairi shouted happily.

"Really?" He rushed over to the bed and kneeled down to find Sora softly rubbing his eyes.

"Kairi, Riku," Sora whispered, his voice soft and hoarse. "What's…" He broke into a fit of coughs here, and once it had passed he asked for a glass of water.

"I'll get it," Riku offered, jumping up and heading for the kitchen. This left Kairi and Sora alone.

"How do you feel?" Kairi asked, keeping her voice soft.

"Terrible," Sora replied flatly.

"Does anything hurt?"

"Just my head. And my chest, a little." There was a moment of silence. "We're on a Gummi Ship, aren't we?" Sora suddenly asked.

"Yeah," Kairi replied, nodding.

"Why?"

"Well, what's the last thing you remember?"

"I…I think I was on the island," Sora murmured, furrowing his brow. "The play one."

"Do you remember what happened there?"

Uh…I think I was waiting for Riku, and…and then I think we went to the Secret Place." He sounded very confused. "I'm not so sure what happened after that…it's like a dream."

Here Riku came back into the room holding a bright blue plastic cup of water, and Kairi looked up to him and said, "Hey Riku, Sora doesn't remember much from today."

"Is there something I should remember?" Sora grunted, as he attempted to sit up. He failed and ended up flopping back down into the sheets.

"Yeah, but that's okay," Riku replied. He and Kairi each grabbed one of Sora's shoulders and helped him to sit up, and then Riku handed him the cup. "You're probably just tired."

"You did have a pretty rough day," Kairi agreed. She kept a hand on the cup as Sora drank to keep it steady in his trembling fingers, and once he had finished Riku and Kairi both told him to lie down and rest.

"Where are we going?" he asked, softly laying his head on the pillow.

"Disney Castle," Riku replied.

"Oh. Okay." Sora closed his eyes, and fell asleep almost instantly.

He did not receive much more time to rest though. In a few minutes another chime sounded around the ship, signaling that they had arrived at Disney Castle.

"Do you think you can stand?" Sora heard one of his friends ask him.

"I…I don't know," Sora replied softly.

"Come on, we'll help you."

Riku and Kairi both helped Sora to sit up in bed, and then helped him to stand. Immediately upon standing, however, a dizzy spell caught Sora by surprise, and he would have fallen to his knees if Riku hadn't caught him in time.

"I don't think I can," Sora whispered. "My head…"

"Don't worry Sora," Kairi told him, taking one of his arms and pulling it over her shoulder. "We'll go slowly."

Since the ship had landed directly in the castle's Gummi Hangar, they only needed to open the conveyor ramp instead of setting up a Teleportation Site. The Gummi Hangar was empty as they stepped onto the central platform. All the lights and machines had been turned off for the night, giving it an ominous feel. No one was there manning it.

"Which way do we go?" Kairi asked, looking up at the gears and switches that surrounded them.

"I…really don't know," Riku admitted. "I've never been…"

Suddenly, with a loud groan, Sora's knees buckled, and his friends had to catch tighter hold of him.

"Sora?" they both called, concern in their voices, but he gave no response.

They softly laid him on his back against the floor, and Kairi placed a soft hand on his forehead.

"His fever's spiked," she said, shaking her head. "It's too much for him."

"Great," Riku sighed. "We really need to…" He suddenly stopped. At the far end of the platform he saw two tiny balls of fur sliding down what looked like a stair banister.

When they got to the end, Kairi suddenly let out a loud, "Oh," and rushed over to the banister. "You two are Chip and Dale, aren't you?" she asked, getting down so that she was level with them.

"Yes," the red nosed one replied. "And you must be Kairi."

"We had a feeling someone was going to show up soon," the black nosed one said, "ever since one of our Gummi Ships launched without either of us doing anything."

"So, what brings you he…" Dale started, but then he noticed Riku behind Kairi, and then he noticed Sora. "W…What? Sora?"

"What happened?" Dale asked, his voice a lot more worried and serious.

Before either Riku or Kairi could answer, Chip and Dale scurried from the banister and onto to either of Sora's shoulders.

"Sora," they called, softly patting his face with their paws. "Wake up." They only managed to make him turn his head and mutter. They looked up at Riku and Kairi.

"You two wait here," Chip said, scampering back over to the stairway. "We'll go get the King and Queen."

"And we'll ask them to bring some of there attendants for Sora," Dale added, following Chip. In a few minutes they had left and come back with the King, the Queen, and two servants walking with a hand gurney between them.

The attendants immediately went over to Sora to pull him onto the gurney, and King Mickey, in a surprised, curious voice, asked, "Riku, Kairi, what happened?"

Riku and Kairi both opened their mouths to explain, but then the King shook his head and waved his hand.

"Why don't we make sure you're all right first before you explain," he said.

Riku and Kairi shared a glance and then looked back at Sora.

"Sora's the only one you really need to worry about," Riku said. "He's really sick."

"Right," the king said, nodding. He turned to the attendants. "Horace, Clarabel, let Sora have the Delta room, and then take Riku and Kairi to the Feta and Gamma rooms."

"Right away, your majesty," the two replied.

"Just follow Horace and Clarabel here and I'll make sure a Doctor gets called for Sora," the king said to Riku and Kairi. "After everything settles down, I want you to meet me in the throne room so you can explain everything."

They nodded and thanked the king, and then proceeded to follow Horace and Clarabel. They followed them all the way until they came to a large purple door, when the two attendants asked them to stay outside while they went in with Sora. They patiently waited outside the door until Horace and Clarabel finally came out.

"Okay," Horace said, pointing down the hallway. "Your rooms are the last two doors on the left. Just go on down when you're ready."

"You can stay here with Sora for a while if you want," Clarabel said. "You'll probably have to leave once the Doctor gets here though. Oh," she added. "And one more thing."

She laid a hand on Kairi's shoulder and Horace laid a hand on Riku's. There came a strong burst of wind, and when Riku and Kairi opened their eyes again they were each dressed in a soft pair of blue pajamas.

"How…" Riku began.

"Magic," Horace said, handing Riku a bundle and grinning. Riku looked down at the bundle and saw that it was the clothing that he had just been wearing.

"Most people here know at least a little magic," Clarabel said. She handed Kairi her bundle, and once they had all said their goodbyes Riku and Kairi entered Sora's room.

It was a vast room with a tall ceiling and wide walls. A soft light came from the lamp that sat on the small table at the head of the room, dimly lighting the space. On the back wall there was a window that cast a beam of moonlight over the bed in which Sora lay. As Riku and Kairi approached the bed they saw Sora's clothes hanging on the bedpost, and realized that either Horace or Clarabel had used the clothes-changing magic on him as well.

"It's been a long day," Riku sighed, plopping down onto the sofa next to Sora's bed and laying his head back.

"Yeah," Kairi agreed, joining him. "It has." A few moments passed. "Riku, do you think Sora's going to be…" she began, but then she realized that he had fallen asleep. She started to try and wake him, but then decided against it. "Sleep easy, Riku," she whispered. "You earned it."

**

* * *

**

When the doctor finally arrived, King Mickey himself led her to the room where Sora was. They opened the door to find Riku asleep on the couch and Kairi sitting next to him reading a book she had found on the bedside table. She looked up when she heard the door open.

"Oh, you're here," she said, her voice surprised once she saw the doctor. "Do we have to leave?"

"Yeah," the doctor replied, walking over to the bed and sitting down at the edge. She snapped open her medical bag. "But don't worry. I won't take too long."

Kairi turned to Riku and gave him a small shake to wake him.

"Wha…?" Riku groaned, blinking his eyes open.

"Riku, the doctor's here," Kairi said, pulling him up to his feet. "We have to leave until she's finished."

Riku rubbed his eyes and looked to where the doctor was sitting, and then he came to himself.

"Oh, okay," he replied. He, Kairi, and the king exited the room together and shut the door behind them.

"Sora's in pretty bad shape right now," King Mickey said, looking from Riku to Kairi. "Do you want to tell me what happened now or do you want to wait until we get to the throne room?"

"You'll probably be doing most of the explaining Riku," Kairi said, looking up at him. "It's your choice."

"We should probably wait then," Riku said. "It'll take a long time to explain everything."

"Okay. If that's what you want," the king replied.

"As they waited for the doctor to come out and tell them about Sora, Donald and Goofy came bounding down the hallway. Word of Sora's condition had gone around the castle pretty quickly, and they were very worried about him. Soon the queen had come as well, and then Chip and Dale, and even Daisy.

When the Doctor came out of the room, she almost had a crowd of anxious faces looking up at her.

"He'll be fine," she said, and everyone let out a sigh of relief. "He _is_ still running a very high fever, but since I gave him some medicine for that it'll probably break in a few hours."

"So there's nothing else wrong with him?" Kairi asked hopefully.

"Nothing serious," the doctor replied. "He's extremely exhausted. He'll need to stay in bed for at least a few days, a week at the max."

Everyone thanked the doctor several times, and before leaving she asked Riku if he wanted her to have a look at his injuries.

"Oh, yes. I had almost forgotten to ask you."

"Don't worry," Kairi said, grinning and poking Riku's side with her elbow. "I would have _reminded_ you."

They sat at a nearby bench and the doctor removed all of Riku's band-aids, garnering a few soft winces. She tended his wounds with bandages and a healing salve, and it was a lot more pleasant and soothing than Kairi's "band-aid-alcohol" method.

Once the doctor had finished with Riku, she packed up all her things.

"Thank you very much for coming," the king said. "You were a big help."

"My pleasure," the doctor replied, smiling. She said good-bye to everyone and left. King Mickey turned to Riku and Kairi.

"Okay you two," he said. "It's time you explained exactly what happened." He began leading them to the throne room.

"Gwarsh, you majesty. Do you mind if the rest of us come too?" Goofy asked.

The king looked up at Riku, giving him the choice.

"Of course," Riku replied. "Anyone who wants to hear what happened can come."

They all went to the throne room together.

"Riku, Kairi, you have the floor," King Mickey said, once everyone had gotten in a semi-circle around the two.

Riku sighed.

"This all started when I met a man named Twine."

**

* * *

**

Sora woke with a gentle gasp. He bolted upright, wildly starring around him with wide, fearful eyes. He had no idea where he was, and the darkness of the room terrified him. He started to move his hand to the side of the bed to pull himself out, but someone grabbed his wrist.

"L…let go," he shouted, fear gripping his chest.

"Hey, Sora it's okay. It's just me."

"Riku?" Sora breathed, confusion lining his voice. "What's…"

"Just lie back down," Riku told him. "I'll go turn on the light."

Sora did what Riku told him, and in a few moments the lights clicked on. "Are you all right?" Riku asked.

"Y…Yeah, I think so," Sora replied, his voice shaky. "Where are we?"

"Disney Castle."

"Disney Castle? But…" Sora suddenly became a lot more morose, giving a soft, "Oh…"

"Hey, what's wrong?" Riku asked, concerned.

"It's…it's just that I think I just remembered why we're in Disney Castle." There was a long moment of silence before Sora turned to Riku and said, "This morning back on the islands, that…that guy…"

"Twine," Riku told him.

Hearing the name sent a shiver through Sora.

"Who was he?" Sora asked softly, a strange shyness coming over him. He did not enjoy talking about this, but he needed to know.

"I met him a long time ago," Riku sighed. "Back during the time you were sleeping."

"But…but why did he take me?" Sora asked. "I mean, he really went through a lot of trouble."

"He wanted Way To Dawn," Riku replied.

"Your Key Blade?"

Riku nodded.

A few moments passed before Sora suddenly burst out with, "Why? _Why_ did he do all this?" He seemed a little angry and frustrated here, and Riku didn't blame him.

"Here, let me explain everything." Riku told Sora the whole story. He told him how he had met Twine, he told him why Twine had kidnapped him, and he told him what had happened once he and Kairi got to The World That Never Was, although he left out the part about the last spell that Twine cast on Sora. Riku knew that it would probably frighten Sora if he found out how close he came to death.

After hearing Riku's entire explanation, Sora stayed quiet for a very long time. He didn't know what to think or what to say.

"Sora, are you okay?" Riku finally asked, noticing how pale Sora suddenly became.

"I'm…I'm fine," Sora replied, tough Riku could tell that the story had probably overwhelmed him a bit.

"Oh, I almost forgot," Riku said, remembering something that he knew would make Sora feel a lot better. He stuck his hand out and summoned the Key Blade.

"You got it back?" Sora asked, a huge smile coming to his face.

"Of course," Riku laughed. "You thought I would just leave you without a Key Blade?"

Sora sat up and took the Key Blade from Riku, and looked at it for a few moments before dismissing it.

"It feels so much better having it back," Sora sighed. "Thank you."

"Hey, no pro…" Riku started, but Sora's stomach suddenly gave a loud gurgle, and they both stopped to stare at it.

"Um…I guess I'm hungry," Sora said, smiling sheepishly. It had been a while since he had had anything to eat.

"Here, why don't you eat this?"

Riku reached for something on the bedside table and pulled up a small bowl with a lid on it. Sora took it from him and pulled the lid off to reveal a piping bowl of soup.

"Oh, it smells good," Sora said, setting it on his lap.

"The king's chef made it just for you," Riku said, handing Sora a spoon. "He said it would help you get your strength back faster."

Sora took a mouthful of spoon, and his eyes went wide.

"Riku this is…"

"…the best soup ever?"

"_Yes_."

"I know. The chef let me and Kairi taste a little when he made it."

"Well it's really _good_," Sora laughed. He took a few more sips.

"So…do you feel all right now?" Riku asked.

"I just need to rest for a while," Sora replied. "It's getting kind of hard to keep my eyes open."

"You know," Riku said slyly. "The doctor said you would have to stay in bed for at least three days."

Sora practically choked on his soup.

"W…what? Three days?" he nearly shouted.

"A week at the max."

"A _week_? Riku, I can't stay in bed for a…" He suddenly paused. "Wow. A week? Just how sick was I?"

"Pretty sick," Riku replied. "Do you remember the doctor coming in to give you medicine?"

"No, I don't," Sora said, sounding surprised.

"Yeah, I didn't think you would. Your fever was pretty high."

Sora gave a sigh.

"This is just great," he grumbled. "How am I going to convince my parents that I need to stay in bed for three days? Or more?"

"Well, it's not like you'd be faking," Riku said. One look at Sora would let his parents know that he needed to be in bed. "They'd probably just think you were sick."

"I guess so," Sora replied. He sighed. "I just wish that none of this had ever happened." Riku could see that this was something that Sora really wanted.

"Hey, don't worry. Twine won't ever bother us again," Riku assured him. "And if he does I'll…I'll…" Riku gave a very large yawn here, and then gave a soft sigh. It made Sora realize how tired Riku looked.

"Riku, what time is it?" he asked, looking curious.

Riku looked at the clock on the wall to his left.

"About two o'clock," he replied.

"Two o'clock? In the morning?"

Riku nodded.

"How long have you been in here then?"

"Trust me. It's been a while," Riku replied. When Sora gave him a look, he said, "Hey, I had to make sure you weren't confused when you woke up."

"Aw Riku, you didn't need to do that," Sora said. "I would have been fine." Riku laughed out loud at this. "What?"

"Sora, you freaked out so much when you woke up just now, it's a _good_ thing I was in here."

"I did _not_ freak out," Sora insisted. "It was just really dark and I didn't know where I was and…and…okay, so I kind of did freak out. But you should still go to bed."

"Okay, okay," Riku said, standing. "_If_ you insist." He went to the head of the room. "The switch is over here when you want to turn lights off."

"Okay," Sora replied.

"Good night then."

Riku left the room, and Sora finished eating his soup. The soup made him sleepy though (as Riku had known it would when he gave it to him) and in a few minutes Sora couldn't help but fall asleep.

**

* * *

**

The next morning things went quickly. Having no time to stay for a full sit down breakfast, Sora, Riku, and Kairi had to board the Gummi Ship early in the morning if they had any hopes of making it back home at a decent time.

King Mickey and everyone else who knew Sora came to the Gummi Hangar to see them off, and the king told them to come back any time they needed to. They thanked everyone, and after all their goodbyes, they set off.

For the first hour or so Sora stayed in the cockpit with Riku and Kairi. After a while, though, he started feeling tired, and so he went to the back to rest. In reality the trip took several hours, but for Sora, with him being asleep almost the whole time, it felt like no time at all.

Soon he felt a hand shaking him at his shoulder, and a voice saying, "Sora, wake up. We're here."

Already?" Sora groaned, opening his eyes and looking up at his friends.

"Yeah, and this part is really important, so you have to get up right now," Riku replied.

Sora sat up, asking, "What do you mean?"

"Well, before me and Kairi left I realized that your parents would notice that you were…"

"Oh…oh no. I never thought of that. How will I ever explain…"

"It's okay," Riku interrupted. "Before we left I spoke with a replication that Twine had made. He agreed to take your place until we got back.

"You…you made a deal with that replication _he_ made?" Sora asked, his voice wary.

"Sora, I had no choice," Riku replied. "It was either that or have your parents wondering where you were."

Sora looked down at his hands and didn't respond.

"Come on Sora," Kairi said, laying a hand on his shoulder. "I'm sure the replication did exactly what he said he was going to do."

He stayed silent for a few more seconds, and then asked, "Well, how are we going to switch places?"

"That's why this is so important," Riku replied. "We have to find the replication without anyone noticing that he's notyou_." _He paused. "You know what, why don't you two just stay here, and I'll go look for him myself. This'll be a lot easier if Sora isn't on the island at the same time as him."

They all agreed to this, and so Riku went to the cockpit to set up a Teleportation Site in a place on the island where he knew no one ever went. Once he got down to the island he went to the northern part and found Wakka, Tidus, and Selphie playing around by the docks.

"Hey, look, it's Riku," Selphie shouted, pointing to him when she saw him. They all rushed over to him and started bombarding him with questions.

"Where have you been, man?" Wakka asked, clapping him on the back.

"We tried calling you all day yesterday, but you never answered," Selphie said. "Sora didn't even know where you were, and Kairi was gone too."

"Sorry. I was really sick yesterday," Riku replied, laying a hand on the back of his head. "I was probably asleep when you called." He looked around. "Where _is_ Sora, anyway?"

"Right up there," Tidus said, pointing to the large rock-island where the paupu tree sat. "He's been up there laying on the paupu tree all day long. Did he visit you yesterday or something? He seems sick."

"Uh…no, but I'll go see what's wrong."

Riku entered the Seaside Shack and climbed the stairs to the outside, and then ran over to the paupu tree.

"Hey, Sora," he called, laying a hand on his shoulder. "Wake up."

Sora stirred for a moment before softly opening his eyes.

"Oh," he whispered quietly, rubbing his eyes. "You're back." He sat up and gave a stretch.

"Tidus was right. You do look sick," Riku said, noticing Sora's groggy manner.

"What? Oh, yeah. It's just that Twine's been trying to call me back for a while, and that takes its toll on me after a while. But that's not important." He looked at Riku with serious eyes. "Did you manage to get Sora back okay?"

"Yeah, he's fine," Riku replied. "It was…a really close call, but he came out all right in the end."

"What do you mean?"

Riku explained everything that had happened on The World That Never Was.

"Y…you mean he didn't take your Key Blade?" Sora asked, astonished.

"No," Riku replied, shaking his head. "He said that my heart was too strong for him to take it." He paused. "He also said that he wouldn't come back again unless he found some way to take my Key Blade. Do you know if he might have been lying?"

"That's the thing about Twine," Sora said, jumping down from the paupu tree. "He'll deceive you and he'll trick you, but he'll never lie to you. He meant what he said."

"Are you sure?"

"Positive. And about him finding another way to take your Key Blade, you shouldn't worry. There are a few other key bearers out there whose Key Blades he couldn't take, and he's never been able to figure out how to take theirs."

"Okay," Riku sighed. "If you say so."

"It'll be fine Riku," Sora said. "And if he ever actually _does_ decide he wants to come back here, I'll convince him not to. I'm good at that." He started walking towards the bridge. "Now come with me to The Cove so I can open a corridor. It'll look weird if I go alone."

Riku walked with Sora to the cove, and after making sure that no one was there Sora opened a large dark portal.

"This is where we part ways," Sora said, giving a soft smile.

"Thanks for a filling in for Sora. You really don't know how much you helped us out."

"Oh, I do," Sora replied knowingly. "By the way, I was so gloomy yesterday that Sora's parents think he's sick. If he needs some time to rest, they won't think anything of it."

"Oh, okay."

"Well, see ya." The replication gave a small wave before stepping through the portal, and then the portal disappeared.

Riku gave a long hard sigh. The day had just begun and he was already beginning to feel tired.

He went over to the bushes where he had hidden the Teleportation Site, and when he got into the ship he told Sora and Kairi that it was okay to come out.

"But what will we do about the ship?" Sora asked. "It can't just stay here, can it?"

"I'll set it to Auto Pilot and make it go back to the castle once we get off," Riku said. "So make sure you don't leave anything."

Riku and Kairi gathered all of the things they had brought, and Sora helped them since he hadn't brought anything with him. Once they exited the Gummi Ship, they all stood on the beach and watched it fly away into the distance. After they couldn't see it anymore, Sora flopped down into the sand onto his back. His friends sat down next to him.

"I've only been gone for a day," he said, his voice soft. "But it almost feels like it's been a _week_."

Riku frowned a bit here.

"I'm really sorry all this had to happen to you," he said. "That goes for you too, Kairi."

"It's okay, Riku," Sora replied, propping himself up with his elbows. "Everything's fine. We're all okay now, right?"

"But all of this could have been avoided," Riku insisted. "I should've…"

"Riku, we forgive you," Kairi suddenly said. "It wasn't even your fault. Don't feel so bad about it."

Riku opened his mouth to respond, but then a curious look came to his face.

"You really forgive me?" he asked. Sora and Kairi shook their heads yes. "And you're not angry?"

"No," they each replied.

Riku stared at them for a long while, and then he smiled.

"Thank you."

They all turned to look out at the horizon, and watched how the rippling water reflected the light of the sun. After a while Sora fell asleep, and soon after that Kairi did as well. When Riku turned to look at his friends, he saw that they had dozed off. As he watched them both sleep, he promised himself that he would never let anyone like Twine hurt either of them ever again. He vowed to be stronger. He turned to gaze out at the sea a little longer.

"I'm glad," he said aloud, stretching his arms in the air. He lay back and felt the warm sand underneath him. Soon he too had fallen asleep.

**The End**

Well, there wasn't much action in this chapter, but I still hope you all liked it. I'm so glad this story is finally over! I may have taken a long time to get it up, but now the story's completed! So thank you to all of you who read from the very beginning, endured some long periods of waiting, and read till the very end! Good bye for now!

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